Diplomat: UN envoy to visit Myanmar at month's end
AP - Friday, January 23
YANGON, Myanmar - The special United Nations envoy tasked with promoting political reconciliation in Myanmar will visit the military-ruled country at the end of this month, a diplomat said.
The visit by Ibrahim Gambari is set for Jan. 31, the diplomat said Thursday. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because the news has not yet been officially announced.
The visit comes in the wake of a judicial crackdown during which government courts handed down harsh prison sentences to scores of pro-democracy activists. It will be Gambari's first visit in five months, and his seventh since he began his assignment in mid-2006.
The country's pro-democracy movement, whose leader is detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been disappointed by Gambari's previous visits, which have failed to secure the release of Suu Kyi from more than 13 years under house arrest.
During Gambari's last visit in August, Suu Kyi refused to meet him, and he also failed to be received by junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
The current junta came to power in 1988 after violently crushing a nationwide pro-democracy uprising. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory.
AP - Friday, January 23
YANGON, Myanmar - The special United Nations envoy tasked with promoting political reconciliation in Myanmar will visit the military-ruled country at the end of this month, a diplomat said.
The visit by Ibrahim Gambari is set for Jan. 31, the diplomat said Thursday. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because the news has not yet been officially announced.
The visit comes in the wake of a judicial crackdown during which government courts handed down harsh prison sentences to scores of pro-democracy activists. It will be Gambari's first visit in five months, and his seventh since he began his assignment in mid-2006.
The country's pro-democracy movement, whose leader is detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been disappointed by Gambari's previous visits, which have failed to secure the release of Suu Kyi from more than 13 years under house arrest.
During Gambari's last visit in August, Suu Kyi refused to meet him, and he also failed to be received by junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
The current junta came to power in 1988 after violently crushing a nationwide pro-democracy uprising. It called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory.
No comments:
Post a Comment