UN suggestion taken up by Burma's rulers

Burma’s ruling junta said today it hoped to achieve “smooth relations” with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a day after suggesting that she was unlikely to be released from house arrest anytime soon.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece of the junta, printed a brief official announcement on its front page saying that Deputy Labour Minister Aung Kyi had been appointed “minister for relations” to coordinate contacts with Suu Kyi, the country’s democracy icon.

The appointment was suggested by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his visit to Burma earlier this month, the statement said.

It added that the junta had accepted the idea “in respect of Gambari’s recommendation and in view of smooth relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi”. “Daw” is a polite term for addressing older women.

The printed statement followed a similar announcement the night before on state radio and television, a move that came amid intense international pressure for the junta to enter talks with Burma’s democracy movement.

The new official’s duties were not detailed, and the announcement did not say when he might meet with the 62-year-old Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years without trial.

It appeared, however, that Aung Kyi would coordinate Suu Kyi’s contacts with both the regime and the UN, which is seeking to end the political deadlock between democracy advocates and a military that has ruled since 1962.

Aung Kyi has a reputation among foreign diplomats, UN officials and aid groups as being relatively accessible and reasonable compared to top junta leaders.

But the state-run newspaper suggested in a commentary yesterday that Suu Kyi would remain under house arrest until a new constitution was in place – a milestone that diplomats say could take years to achieve.

“The three demands of the protesters – lowering consumer prices, release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, and national reconciliation - cannot be satisfied through protest,” the English-language paper said.

The commentary added that the protesters’ demands would be “within reach” only once the junta’s seven-step “road map” for restoring democracy is completed.

So far, only the first stage of drawing up guidelines for a new constitution has been completed – a process that took over a decade.

The road map process is supposed to culminate in a general election at an unspecified date in the future.

The UN envoy’s trip to Burma came after troops crushed pro-democracy demonstrations with gunfire on September 26 and 27.

The regime said 10 people were killed, but dissident groups put the toll at up to 200 and say 6,000 people were detained, including thousands of monks who led the rallies.

Protests erupted on August 19 after the government raised fuel prices, but anger mushroomed into broad-based marches by tens of thousands demanding democratic reforms.

The government has continued to round up suspected activists, although some people have been released.

In Rangoon, Burma’s biggest city, security has gradually eased. Most roadblocks have been removed and visitors have begun trickling back to the heavily guarded Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the starting and finishing points for many of the protests.

Amid global condemnation of its crackdown, the government announced last week that junta leader, Senior Gen Than Shwe, was willing to meet personally with Suu Kyi, but only if she met certain conditions, including renouncing support for economic sanctions by foreign countries against the junta.

It remains unknown if Suu Kyi would accept the offer, which also called on her to give up what the junta said were her efforts backing “confrontation” and “utter devastation”.

The regime accuses her and her party of working with other nations to sabotage its own plans for a phased return to democracy.

Than Shwe has only met with Suu Kyi once before, in 2002, and the talks quickly broke down.

The current junta came to power after crushing a 1988 pro-democracy uprising by killing as many as 3,000 people. Burma’s previous constitution was suspended in 1988.

The junta then allowed elections in 1990, but nullified the vote after Suu Kyi’s party won.