Senior UN official to visit Burma t

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Subject: Senior UN official to visit Burma to promote dialogue

Senior UN official to visit Burma to promote dialogue

PHNOM PENH, May 2  - Senior UN official Alvaro de Soto Friday said he would 
travel to Burma next week in an effort to encourage dialogue between the 
country's military rulers and the opposition. 

The UN assistant secretary general for political affairs said he would meet 
senior officials in Rangoon for "three or four days" beginning May 7 "to help 
in promoting dialogue."

De Soto, who last visited Rangoon in late 1995, spoke to reporters on his 
arrival in Cambodia for a 24-hour inspection visit.

Last year, the United Nations and Burma's junta, officially known as the State 
Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), were unable to agree on the terms 
of an official visit.

In February, Francesc Vendrell, director of the East Asia desk in the UN's 
political affairs department, was in Rangoon and met government officials, as 
well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic Shan leader Hkun Htun 
Oo.

De Soto is scheduled to leave Phnom Penh Saturday for Singapore, ahead of 
stops in Burma and Indonesia.
(AFP)