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NEWS-UN Envoy to Meet Myanmar Junta
UN Envoy to Meet Myanmar Junta Leaders, Suu Kyi
Reuters
19-JAN-98
YANGON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A United Nations special envoy
is due to
arrive in Myanmar (Burma) on Tuesday for talks with top
leaders of the
ruling military junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, UN
sources based here said on Monday.
Alvaro De Soto, assistant UN secretary-general, will urge
the ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to speed up
the
drafting of Myanmar's new constitution and the holding of
free and fair
elections in the country, they told Reuters.
``During the visit, he will meet with the SPDC leaders
and is expected
to urge the SPDC to speed up the process of drafting a
new
constitution and holding free and fair elections again,''
a UN source
told Reuters.
De Soto's three day visit will also include discussions
with Suu Kyi,
leader of the main opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD),
with which the military has been at odds for some time
now.
Political analysts said he was expected to urge the two
sides to talk to
each other.
The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but
the military
junta ignored the results, refused to hand over power to
the election
winner and curbed Suu Kyi's activities since she was
released from
six years of house arrest in 1995.
The previous military government, the State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), which changed its name to
the SPDC
late last year, created a National Convention of
appointed
representatives to draft a new constitution in early
1993.
But so far little progress has been made in the drafting
of the
constitution and the convention has been dormant.
De Soto last visited Myanmar in May, 1997 when he met
Lieutenant
General Khin Nyunt, the powerful Secretary One of the
then ruling
SLORC. He then separately met with Suu Kyi and other
political
leaders.
His visit as special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan follows
Annan's meeting with Myanmar premier Senior General Than
Shwe at
an ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, last December.
``Kofi Annan told the media after his meeting with Than
Shwe that one
of the goals of the UN General Assembly is to promote a
dialogue
between the SPDC and NLD,'' a political analyst said.