UN Special Envoy Allowed to Meet Myanmar Opposition Leader

Home>>Sci-Edu

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, June 10, 2003

UN Special Envoy Allowed to Meet Myanmar Opposition Leader

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

UN special envoy Razali Ismail said here on Tuesday that he has been allowed by the Myanmar military government to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) in the morning who has been in detention by the government since May 30.

Razali made the disclosure hours before he is due to end his five-day official visit to Myanmar on Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm happy to announce I shall be going to see ASSK in half an hour," Razali told newsmen. "When I see her I'll tell her about the international worries about her and how the United Nations will take steps to ask for her immediate release."

Razali's meeting with ASSK is seen as part of his realization of the aims of his current mission.

ASSK's secret detention has drawn widespread concern from across the world including the United Nations and more economic sanctions are threatening the Myanmar military government on condition that she is not released.

ASSK, general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been secretly detained by the military government after a bloodshed took place on May 30 in Ye U/Dabayin, northern Myanmar's Sagaing division, when she was making a political trip there and since then her whereabouts and health status have been unknown.

With regard to the incident, the government claimed that it wasa clash between NLD's supporters and anti-NLD protesters in which four people were killed and 50 injured with eight motor vehicles and nine motor cycles destroyed in the violence.

However, eyewitnesses said several dozen people died in the clashes with ASSK getting injured. Suspicions grow that the incident could be a premeditated ambush on the unarmed convoy of ASSK plotted by the government supporters, aimed at assassinating ASSK.

Shortly after the incident, ASSK was arrested by the governmentwhich described the move as "temporary protective custody."

Following the incident, the military has also detained some NLDleaders in Yangon, closing its Yangon headquarters and branch offices throughout the nation as well as universities and collegesacross the country indefinitely to prevent any probability.

Razali has traveled to Myanmar for ten times since he was appointed as the envoy in April 2000, making tireless efforts, aimed at bringing about Myanmar's national reconciliation, especially between the military government and the opposition through substantive dialogue.

The NLD, which is a lawful political party out of ten in existence in Myanmar, overwhelmingly won the 1990 general electionwith 392 parliamentary seats out of 485. The election was sponsored by the military government which openly declared then that power will be transferred to the winning party after the election.

However, the NLD said, 13 years after the election ended, the military government has yet to fulfill its promise of transferringthe power although it claims that it is a care-taker or transitional one with no desire to hold on to power indefinitely.

During the past more than ten years, the military government put ASSK under house arrest for more than seven years. The political crisis kept escalating resulting in the outbreak of multiple crisis including economic and educational ones.

Questions?Comments? Click here

Efforts Urged to Frame China's Long-time Plan on Science,Technology ( 7 Messages)

Global Warming Troubles Qinghai-Tibet Railway Construction ( 7 Messages)

US Planning Historic Shift of Military Power Abroad: Report ( 26 Messages)

'Haven't got lost!': China's 1st SARS Patient out of Shadow ( 3 Messages)

Hu, Bush Pledge to Further Develop Constructive Ties of Cooperation ( 6 Messages)

G8 Meeting Urged to Highlight Water Issue in Africa ( 9 Messages)