NEWS - Envoy Says UN to Help Resolv

[Philip.Mccracken@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Note: Apparently a Burmese person is working for Reuters. ??
------------------------------------------
Envoy Says UN to Help Resolve Myanmar Concerns

               Reuters
               23-JAN-98
               By Aung Hla Tun 

               YANGON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - United
               Nations special envoy Alvaro De Soto
               said on Friday that he had raised a
               number of the world community's
               concerns about Myanmar (Burma)
               with its military leaders and
               opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
               during his visit this week. 

               He also discussed ways the United
               Nations Secretary General Kofi
               Annan might be able to assist the
               government and the people of
               Myanmar address these concerns,
               De Soto told reporters without giving
               details. 

               Myanmar's junta has been accused
               by the local opposition and the West
               of abusing human rights and curbing
               democratic movements and the
               political activities of Aung San Suu
               Kyi, who leads the main opposition
               National League or Democracy
               (NLD) party. 

               De Soto met senior figures in the
               government and Suu Kyi during his
               three-day visit. 

               ``The UN assembly and the Human
               Rights Commission have raised a
               number of concerns about the
               situation in Myanmar which are well
               known,'' he said. 

               ``I have had substantive meetings
               with Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw,
               Secretary One of the SPDC
               Lieutenant Khin Nyunt and Senior
               General Than Shwe. And I have also
               met with the leader of the NLD, Aung
               San Suu Kyi,'' he added. 

               ``We have discussed ways in which
               the (UN) Secretary General might
               assist the Myanmar people and
               Myanmar authorities and leaders in
               addressing these concerns,'' De Soto
               said. 

               The envoy said he would return to
               New York on Friday and report to
               Annan, who would then submit an
               interim report about his efforts on
               Myanmar to the Human Rights
               Commission in about one and a half
               months. 

               De Soto's visit was the result of talks
               between Annan and Than Shwe in
               the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in
               Kuala Lumpur last December. 

               Annan had told reporters after
               meeting Than Shwe that he would
               send a special envoy to discuss
               accelerating the drafting of the
               country's new national constitution
               and the possibility of holding free and
               fair elections soon. 

               Previous efforts to start direct talks
               between Suu Kyi and the military
               junta have failed ever since the
               opposition leader was released from
               six years of house arrest in 1995. 

               De Soto last met Suu Kyi in May,
               1997. Suu Kyi's National League for
               Democracy party won a landslide
               victory during a 1990 general election
               but the military ignored the results of
               the election and has run the country
               with an iron hand since. ^MORE@
               Reut10:27 01-23-98 SLUG:
               BC-MYANMAR-ENVOY