The Sydney Morning Herald - UN envoy presses Burma on freedoms

The Sydney Morning Herald - UN envoy presses Burma on freedoms
June 27, 2009

THE United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, arrived in Burma on Friday to prepare for a visit by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, against the backdrop of the ongoing trial of the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

On a two-day trip, Mr Gambari is set to meet senior figures from the ruling junta but there were no immediate plans to see Ms Suu Kyi or members of her political party, Burmese officials said.

Mr Gambari arrived in the main city of Rangoon on a commercial flight and was immediately driven to his hotel in a UN vehicle. He made no comment about his visit, witnesses said.

He was due to fly to the junta's administrative capital of Naypyidaw for talks and would return to Rangoon on Saturday to meet officials from the Foreign Ministry, officials said.

Gambari is to brief the UN chief on the outcome of his mission and Ban will then decide whether to visit Burma early next month, according to UN sources in New York.

The UN chief and Gambari have tried to persuade Burma's ruling generals to free all political detainees, including Ms Suu Kyi, and to steer their country to democracy and national reconciliation.

Ms Suu Kyi, 64, is in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after an American man, John Yettaw, swam to her lakeside house earlier this year. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention since the ruling generals refused to recognise the landslide victory of her National League for Democracy in 1990 elections.
Her party spokesman and lawyer, Nyan Win, said her trial would continue at Insein prison on Friday.

He did not know whether Mr Gambari would meet her, as he had done on his previous visit. "We haven't got any information yet," he said.