Myanmar's Suu Kyi tells UN envoy she's frustrated

Myanmar's Suu Kyi tells UN envoy she's frustrated
Mon Feb 2, 10:35 am ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed frustration to a U.N. envoy Monday over the world body's failure to persuade the country's hard-line military leaders to give up their monopoly on power, her party said.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest, was briefly allowed out Monday for a rare meeting with U.N. representative Ibrahim Gambari.

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, said that during the meeting, Suu Kyi, 63, explained to Gambari that "she was ready and willing to meet anyone" to achieve political reform but "could not accept having meetings without achieving any outcome."

Suu Kyi's party has charged that Gambari's seven visits since 2007 have produced no tangible democratic progress, noting they have not persuaded the junta to release political prisoners nor to hold talks with the democratic opposition.

Last August, Suu Kyi snubbed Gambari by failing to keep an expected appointment with him and refusing to open the gates of her Yangon home to his representatives.

The gesture was surprising because Suu Kyi's house arrest keeps her in extreme isolation, with Gambari one of the rare outsiders — other than her lawyer and doctor — allowed to see her.

Myanmar's military, which has ruled the country since 1962, when it was known as Burma, tolerates no dissent and crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. Human rights groups say it holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, up sharply from nearly 1,200 before the demonstrations.

Gambari arrived Saturday for a four-day visit. He told diplomats earlier that his objectives are to urge the junta to free political prisoners, discuss the country's ailing economy and revive a dialogue with Suu Kyi.

Government officials confirmed that Gambari and Suu Kyi met for 1 1/2 hours at a state guest house near her home. The officials declined to give their names because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Nyan Win said Suu Kyi also told the U.N. official that rule of law does not exist in Myanmar, citing lengthy sentences handed down to political prisoners, the arrest of defense lawyers and other moves by the junta.

He said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — who visited Myanmar last May after Cyclone Nargis devastated coastal areas — should not make any additional visits until after Suu Kyi, deputy party leader Tin Oo and other political prisoners have been released.

It was unclear whether Gambari would meet with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe. The general has shunned the envoy during his last three visits.

Myanmar's current military leadership came to power in 1988 after crushing a nationwide pro-democracy movement. It held elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results after Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory.