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NEWS- UN Special Envoy Arrives in M



UN Special Envoy Arrives in Myanmar for Talks

               Reuters
               20-JAN-98

               YANGON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - A
               United Nations special envoy
               arrived in Yangon on Tuesday for
               a three-day visit aimed at prodding
               Myanmar's (Burma's) ruling junta
               towards democracy and
               encouraging dialogue with
               opposition leader Aung San Suu
               Kyi. 

               Alvaro De Soto, who arrived from
               Singapore, was likely to urge the
               ruling State Peace and
               Development Council (SPDC) to
               speed up the drafting of a new
               constitution and to hold elections
               as soon as possible, analysts said.

               De Soto is a special envoy of UN
               Secretary General Kofi Annan,
               who arranged the visit after
               meeting Myanmar's prime
               minister, Senior General Than
               Shwe, at a regional summit in
               Kuala Lumpur last December. 

               The envoy was scheduled to meet
               Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw on
               Wednesday and hold separate
               talks with Suu Kyi, who leads the
               National League for Democracy
               (NLD). 

               He was expected to urge the
               SPDC to hold a dialogue with Suu
               Kyi to help bring lasting peace to
               the country, one analyst said. 

               The SPDC has repeatedly refused
               to hold direct talks with Suu Kyi
               since she was released from six
               years of house arrest in July
               1995. It has also limited her
               political activities. 

               NLD members declined to
               comment on De Soto's planned
               meeting with Suu Kyi. 

               But exiled Myanmar opposition
               activists in Bangkok said the NLD
               was against new elections and
               instead wanted the junta to
               recognise the results of the 1990
               national election, which the NLD
               won by a landslide. 

               The military ignored that result
               and has kept a tight grip on power
               ever since. 

               ``The NLD and our organisation
               share the political stance that we
               do not want to have new elections.
               We want the military regime and
               the UN to recognise the 1990
               election,'' said Aung Naing Oo,
               secretary general of the All Burma
               Student's Democratic Front
               (ABSDF). 

               ``Maybe Mr. Annan has made a
               mistake. Why should we have a
               new election when a valid election
               was already organised in 1990?''
               Aung Naing Oo told Reuters. 

               In an open letter to De Soto, the
               ABSDF urged the envoy to ask
               the government to re-open
               universities and colleges recently
               closed because of student unrest. 

               ``Continued closures will
               adversely affect Burma's
               (Myanmar's) development and
               result in further animosity between
               the students and the regime,'' it
               wrote. 

               It also asked De Soto to raise the
               question of the more than 1,000
               political prisoners held by the
               military and to seek their release. 

               The ABSDF urged De Soto to
               press the government to hold
               dialogue with Suu Kyi and other
               Myanmar ethnic group leaders to
               foster national reconciliation.
               ^REUTERS@ Reut02:49
               01-20-98 SLUG:
               BC-MYANMAR-UN