NEWS - U.N. Special Envoy Meets Aun

[Rangoonp@xxxxxxx]

Subject: NEWS - U.N. Special Envoy Meets Aung San Suu Kyi

U.N. Special Envoy Meets Aung San Suu Kyi

            Xinhua
            29-OCT-98

            YANGON (Oct. 29) XINHUA - Alvaro de Soto, visiting special
envoy of
            the Secretary-General of the United Nations (U.N.), met here
Thursday
            afternoon with Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the
opposition
            National League for Democracy (NLD) on his third day visit
to
            Myanmar, according to an official Information Sheet issued
on
            Thursday evening. 

            The special envoy also met some central executive members of
the
            NLD, it said, however, no details about the meetings were
disclosed. 

            Alvaro, Assistant U.N. Secretary-General, arrived in Yangon
on
            Tuesday on his second four-day trip to Myanmar this year to
look into
            the current political situation in the country. 

            During his visit, Alvaro called on Lieutenant-General Khin
Nyunt, first
            secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council
            (SPDC), on Wednesday who briefed him on the current
political,
            social and economic situation in Myanmar. 

            Alvaro conveyed to Khin Nyunt the wishes and position of the
U.N.
            Secretary-General Kofi Annan regarding Myanmar and then
            exchanged views with him, the Information Sheet said,
describing the
            meeting as "constructive and fruitful." 

            Furthermore, Alvaro met with Myanmar Foreign Minister U Ohn
Gyaw
            and Minister at the Office of the SPDC Chairman
Brigadier-General
            Abel. 

            Alvaro's visit came over a month after the NLD formed on
September
            16 a 10-member Committee Representing the Parliament Elected
in
            the 1990 Multi-Party General Election and unilaterally set
up a
            People's Parliament. 

            The government ignored a deadline set by the NLD for the
convening
            of the parliament. 

            In August, Kofi Annan proposed to Myanmar leader
Senior-General
            Than Shwe that a special emissary be sent then to Yangon for
the
            discussions, but was rejected by the latter, according to an
earlier
            official report. 

            The Myanmar government has maintained since 1994 dialogue
with
            the U.N. Secretary-General. 

            In January, Alvaro visited Yangon for the first time in this
year and met
            with Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt. 

            Meanwhile, 88 members of the NLD were allowed to return home
            since September 14 after being "housed" for several weeks by
the
            authorities. Of them, 64 were permitted to go home during
the four-day
            visit of the U.N. special envoy in Yangon.