UN diplomat on Myanmar democracy mi

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Subject: UN diplomat on Myanmar democracy mission

FOCUS-Top UN diplomat on Myanmar democracy mission
03:27 a.m. Oct 27, 1998 Eastern

By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro
de Soto arrived in Yangon on Tuesday on a four-day mission aimed at
encouraging democracy in military-ruled Myanmar.

``It's part of the process of consultation between the United Nations and
Myanmar,'' de Soto told Reuters by telephone after arriving in the Myanmar
capital.

He said he had a meeting scheduled with Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw on Tuesday
afternoon and expected to see Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, a senior member
of the ruling military council, on Wednesday.

Asked if he planned to meet leaders of the pro-democracy opposition,
including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, he replied:

``I have some other appointments,'' but did not elaborate.

A U.N. official in the region said the visit by de Soto, the second-ranking
official for political affairs at the United Nations, was part of a process
of encouraging democracy in Myanmar.

``Pursuant to a U.N. resolution, the secretary-general has been asked to
play a good-offices role in seeking a more democratically representative
government in Myanmar and de Soto is his special envoy,'' the official said.

Myanmar and U.N. officials have kept up a war of words in recent months over
human rights, in particular the treatment of Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD).

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson called this month for
the release of Myanmar's political prisoners and urged the government to
halt ``repression'' of the opposition.

She said she received ``no satisfactory response'' on the issue of human
rights when she raised the matter with Ohn Gyaw in New York in September.

On Tuesday, the government announced it had freed another 34 of the hundreds
of NLD members the party says have been detained in recent months.

It said they were allowed to return home on Monday and Tuesday ``after a
successful exchange of views on maintaining and safeguarding national peace
and stability.''

The government rounded up a large number of NLD members after the party
vowed in late August to call a parliament.

The NLD said on Monday that as of October 22, 987 of its members were in
detention. The government has announced the release of 99 in recent days.

De Soto met leaders of the military government and Suu Kyi during his last
visit to Myanmar in January. But in August, Myanmar refused a request by
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to receive his emissary.

Ohn Gyaw said last month the world had no right to interfere in Myanmar's
internal affairs when the government had ``chosen the path of democracy.''

De Soto first visited Myanmar in 1995, two months after Suu Kyi was released
from six years house arrest. He met separately with her and government
leaders and urged a dialogue.

Human rights groups outside Myanmar say its generals have made no progress
towards democracy since they refused to recognise the results of a general
election in May 1990, which was won overwhelmingly by the NLD.

They accuse Yangon of massive human rights abuses, including the use of
forced labour, arbitrary detentions and summary executions. Yangon denies
the charges.