UN envoy wraps up Myanmar trip after Suu Kyi talks

UN envoy wraps up Myanmar trip after Suu Kyi talks
Tue Feb 3, 12:48 am ET

YANGON (AFP) – The UN's Myanmar envoy was wrapping up his trip to the military-run nation Tuesday after meeting democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi but with no prospect of crucial talks with senior junta members.

Ibrahim Gambari arrived on Saturday aiming to nudge the junta toward democratic reform and initiate dialogue between the military rulers, detained Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

He held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday morning. She had refused to meet the Nigerian diplomat on his previous visit to Myanmar in August 2008, apparently after he failed to secure any concrete pledges from the regime.

"For the first time, Mr. Gambari met for over an hour jointly with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the central executive committee of the National League for Democracy," the UN said in a statement late Monday.

Photos released by the UN showed a thin, serious-looking Aung San Suu Kyi dressed in a blue sarong and chequered blue top talking with the diplomat.

The meeting appeared to make little headway, however, with Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD simply repeating their long-standing preconditions to dialogue.

They demand the junta release all political prisoners, review the new constitution passed by a referendum last May, and recognise the results of 1990 elections that the NLD won by a landslide.

The outcome of the last election here was ignored by the junta, with the military instead keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the past 19 years and cementing its now nearly five-decade grip on power.

On Tuesday morning, Gambari met with pro-junta student activists, NLD splinter groups and independent politicians at a state guest house where he is required to hold most his official talks, a government official said.

"Yesterday he also met with the foreign minister again for about 15 minutes," said the official.

Gambari was not, however, invited up to the generals' isolated new capital Naypyidaw, denying him access to the top junta leadership including reclusive head of state Senior General Than Shwe.

The UN troubleshooter is expected later Tuesday to meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, although he is thought to exert little control over the country, as all real power lies with Than Shwe and the military junta.