UN Envoy, Japan Encourage Myanmar On Next Year's Elections

UN Envoy, Japan Encourage Myanmar On Next Year's Elections

TOKYO (AFP)--The U.N. envoy to Myanmar made a joint call Thursday with Japan for the military regime to move ahead with elections next year, saying the rest of the world would respond positively.

Ibrahim Gambari, a special advisor to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, was visiting Japan after spending four days in Myanmar where he tried to nudge the military regime toward dialogue with the democratic opposition.

The former Nigerian foreign minister spoke separately with detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Prime Minister Thein Sein, but failed to arrange for the two to meet.

Gambari in talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone "agreed that all the relevant parties need to participate in the democratization process of Myanmar," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

They agreed on "encouraging the Myanmar government to hold a general election in 2010 in a form that be congratulated by the international community," it said.

Nakasone told Gambari that the world would "react positively to a positive move" by the isolated regime.

"Even though there are few positive moves by the Myanmar government, it's a huge step for them to have announced that they would hold a general election in 2010, compared with two past decades of silence about its democratization process," said a foreign ministry official in charge of Japan's relations with Myanmar.

"If they take favorable action, the international community should react in a manner that encourages more positive actions," he said.

Japan, the top donor to Myanmar among the world's major developed economies, in 2003 suspended most assistance other than emergency aid and some training funding.

Japan cut its assistance further after Myanmar cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007.

But Japan refuses to join Western allies in slapping punishing sanctions on Myanmar. China, which often spars with Japan for influence, is the main political and commercial partner of Myanmar.