UN envoy paves way for Ban Ki-moon Myanmar visit: state TV
The Associated Press, Yangon | Sat, 06/27/2009 7:58 PM
The UN's special envoy to Myanmar met the country's foreign minister to prepare for a trip by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a government official and state television station reported Saturday.
Rights groups fear any such visit will lend legitimacy to the ruling junta's trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace laureate is in prison and faces up to five years in jail on the charges that she violated her house arrest after an uninvited American man swam to her closely guarded lakeside home last month and stayed for two days. Her trial has sparked international outrage.
Details of the visit by envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who arrived Friday, were not disclosed by the UN. But a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, confirmed that Gambari met Foreign Minister U Nyan Win in the capital of Naypyitaw. State television later reported that the two discussed plans for a visit by Ban. British Ambassador Mark Canning said Friday he also believed Gambari was setting the stage for Ban.
Ban recently told The Associated Press he was looking at the "appropriate timing" for a visit.
Human Rights Watch and some governments have urged the UN chief not to visit now, arguing that the trip could be exploited by the military government, which might portray it as an endorsement of the legitimacy of Suu Kyi's trial.
But Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party supports the trip, and other countries say the alternative is to do nothing and miss an opportunity to have the secretary-general press for Suu Kyi's release and push for more open and inclusive elections next year.
Gambari returned Saturday to Yangon from the capital of Naypyitaw, and he was scheduled to depart Saturday night for New York via Bangkok. He was not expected to meet Suu Kyi or members of her National League for Democracy.
It was Gambari's eighth visit since 2006 when he was appointed the UN chief's special representative to promote political reconciliation here. The envoy has met with both junta leaders and Suu Kyi but failed to nudge the military regime toward talks with the pro-democracy movement.
The UN has called repeatedly for political reconciliation in Myanmar, including for the release of Suu Kyi. The country has been under military rule since 1962, and the junta has refused to recognize the results of 1990 general elections won by Suu Kyi's party.
Suu Kyi's trial has drawn outrage from the international community and from her local supporters, who say the military government is using the incident as an excuse to keep her detained through the 2010 elections.
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