U.N. envoy leaves Myanmar as fails to convince junta
YANGON (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy left Myanmar on Mondayafter seeing detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi twicein three days but without making major progress in convincingthe military junta to implement democratic reforms.
U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari spent 50 minutes withthe Nobel laureate, who was taken from the state guest housewhere they met on Monday back to the lakeside Yangon villawhere she has been under house arrest since May 2003.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave no details ofGambari's meeting with the detained dissident but indicated hewas disappointed after Gambari's visit to the country.
"There was some progress but we have not been able toachieve as much we had hoped," Ban told reporters at U.N.headquarters in New York at a news conference on Africa and theglobal fight against poverty.
Ban said Gambari did not meet with senior general Than Shwebut was able to see "many senior people, even including theconstitution drafting or review committee members."
"That was unusual," Ban said.
He said he would "continue to press the reform issue sothat Myanmar will meet the expectations of the internationalcommunity toward democratization."
Among the officials Gambari met was Information MinisterKyaw Hsan, the highest-ranking official he saw on the trip.
In this meeting Gambari was told the junta would notdeviate from its own "roadmap to democracy" despiteinternational pressure after last year's protests.
"To speak frankly, the road we have been taking is thecorrect and most suitable one for our country," Kyaw Hsan toldGambari in a meeting broadcast on state television.
His words squashed hopes the generals would include Suu Kyiand her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in theirmuch-criticized plans to restore civilian government after morethan four decades of military rule.
"We are firmly convinced that it is the best way and itwill ensure a smooth and peaceful transition to democracy forour country," Kyaw Hsan, a brigadier general, said.
GENERALS REJECT POLL MONITORS
Shortly afterward, the Nigerian diplomat left forSingapore, ending his third visit to the former Burma sinceauthorities brutally crushed pro-democracy marches inSeptember.
During his four-day visit, the generals made it clear theywould not entertain any changes to the constitution they havedrafted, despite Western concerns it is a blueprint for themilitary hanging on to power.
Gambari's offer of election monitors for a May referendumon the charter and a planned 2010 election was rejected,boosting worries about the freedom and fairness of both polls.
The generals said they had no need for external expertisein running the elections, saying they had "enough experience".
The last time they allowed a poll, in 1990, they decided toignore the result when Suu Kyi's party won over 80 percent.
The crackdown against last September's protests sparkedworldwide outrage and a major diplomatic push for politicalreform in the former British colony, which has been undermilitary rule since 1962.
However, with veto-wielding U.N. Security Council membersChina and Russia unwilling to see the imposition of bindinginternational sanctions, the generals have refused to budgefrom a roadmap that the West derides as a sham.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at UnitedNations)
(Writing by Ed Cropley and Louis Charbonneau; Editing byBill Trott)