UN envoy meets Suu Kyi

The UN special envoy to promote political reconciliation in Burma met Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition party members today, a day after being rebuffed by the country’s military rulers.

Suu Kyi, who has been detained without trial for 12 of the past 18 years, was seen being driven from the residence where she is held under house arrest to the state guest house where Ibrahim Gambari was staying.

Gambari, representing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was scheduled to hold talks with Suu Kyi, but details of their meeting were likely to be closely held.

The UN envoy earlier held talks with representatives of ethnic groups, non-governmental organisations and several political parties including executives of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party.

At their one-hour morning meeting with Gambari, five NLD leaders told him of their desire for an accelerated dialogue with the junta and the release of political prisoners, according to one of the party members present.

The United Nations holds a similar position, but the junta shows no sign of implementing either action.

Burma has been in a political deadlock since the junta, which seized power in 1998, refused to honour the results of a 1990 general election won by Suu Kyi’s party.

Gambari told the NLD executives that he would try his utmost to press their case, but also suggested that they should grab any opportunities offered by the junta, said the party official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the press.

The junta’s top spokesman told Gambari at a Friday meeting that the government had done enough to hold a dialogue with Suu Kyi, by appointing a ministerial level liaison officer for her and announcing that junta chairman Senior Gen. Than Shwe would be willing to meet her if she gave up her “confrontational attitude” and stopped calling for sanctions against the junta.

Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that Burma has no political prisoners and that Suu Kyi was detained because she tried to disrupt stability of the country, state-controlled media reported.

Gambari arrived Thursday on his third trip to Burma since the junta’s deadly crackdown on non-violent pro-democracy protesters in September sparked a global outcry.