Top U.N. envoy meets Myanmar intell

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Subject: Top U.N. envoy meets Myanmar intelligence chief

Top U.N. envoy meets Myanmar intelligence chief
01:45 a.m. Oct 28, 1998 Eastern

By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - A top United Nations emissary met Myanmar's
powerful military intelligence chief on Wednesday as part of a mission to
nudge the country's ruling generals towards democracy.

U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto met Lieutenant General Khin
Nyunt, officially number three in the ruling military council but seen by
many as its most powerful figure.

No details have emerged about the meeting.

A U.N. official said that on Tuesday de Soto met opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy (NLD) won Myanmar's last
election in 1990 but was never allowed to govern.

De Soto arrived in Yangon on Tuesday for a four-day ``good offices'' mission
on behalf of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan aimed at seeking a more
democratically representative government in Myanmar.

He is expected to meet Suu Kyi again before leaving Myanmar on Friday to
brief her on the result of his talks with Khin Nyunt. He has also requested
a meeting with Senior General Than Shwe, head of the ruling council, a
foreign ministry source said.

De Soto said on Tuesday that the results of his mission would be included in
a report by the secretary-general to the U.N. General Assembly next week.

Myanmar and U.N. officials have kept up a war of words in recent months over
human rights, in particular the treatment of the NLD, which says nearly
1,000 of its members have been  detained since May when it passed a
resolution calling for a session of the parliament elected in the 1990
polls.

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

 She said she got ``no satisfactory response'' on human rights when she
raised the matter with Myanmar's Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw in New York in
September.

De Soto met government leaders and Suu Kyi during his last visit in January,
but in August, Myanmar refused a request by the secretary-general for
another visit by 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.''

Myanmar's generals have come under increasing pressure recently.

The European Union, voicing concern over Myanmar's failure to promote
democracy and human rights, extended existing sanctions adopted in October
1996.

They include the expulsion of military personnel attached to Myanmar
diplomatic missions in the EU, an arms embargo, a ban on entry visas to the
country's leaders and the suspension of non-humanitarian aid and of
high-level government visits.

However, they did not adopt a ban on new investment or bar EU companies from
providing services to Myanmar's ruling council -- measures that had been
discussed.