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UN envoy visit constructive: junta
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<center><b><u><font color="#000099"><font size=+2>U.N. envoy visit constructive:
junta</font></font></u></b></center>
<p><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+1>From The Hindu Newspaper, April
7, 2001</font></font>
<br><font size=+1>By Amit Baruah</font>
<p><font size=+1> SINGAPORE, APRIL 6. A three-day visit by the United
Nations</font>
<br><font size=+1> human rights envoy, Mr. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
to Myanmar, has</font>
<br><font size=+1> been described ``constructive'' by the Foreign
Ministry in Yangon.</font>
<p><font size=+1> In a sign that the military Government is more amenable
to</font>
<br><font size=+1> cooperation with the rest of the world, the Foreign
Ministry said:</font>
<br><font size=+1> ``We consider the visit of Mr. Pinheiro as constructive.
We have</font>
<br><font size=+1> cooperated with him to our utmost''.</font>
<p><font size=+1> Mr. Pinheiro, who met with the National League for
Democracy</font>
<br><font size=+1> general secretary, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, was permitted
to visit the</font>
<br><font size=+1> NLD headquarters for talks with senior party leaders.</font>
<p><font size=+1> Mr. Pinheiro's predecessor as U.N. rights' envoy,
Mr. Rajsoomer</font>
<br><font size=+1> Lallah, was bitterly critical of the military regime.
Mr. Lallah, who</font>
<br><font size=+1> resigned his job last year, was never given permission
to visit</font>
<br><font size=+1> Myanmar. Reports from Yangon said that Mr. Pinheiro,
a Brazilian</font>
<br><font size=+1> academic, had adopted a non-confrontational approach
towards the</font>
<br><font size=+1> military Government, a posture which must have
pleased the Generals</font>
<br><font size=+1> in Yangon. In his three-day visit, which concluded
on Thursday, the</font>
<br><font size=+1> Brazilian also met with Secretary-I, Lt. Gen. Khin
Nyunt, the</font>
<br><font size=+1> powerful intelligence chief and regarded as the
architect of a more</font>
<br><font size=+1> open-minded approach.</font>
<p><font size=+1> Interestingly, Mr. Pinheiro was permitted to travel
outside the capital</font>
<br><font size=+1> to a controversial gas pipeline project, whose
construction has invited</font>
<br><font size=+1> opprobrium from the human rights' advocates.</font>
<p><font size=+1> There is little doubt that first-hand visits of
the kind undertaken by the</font>
<br><font size=+1> envoy would help both the international community
and the military</font>
<br><font size=+1> junta understand each other better.</font>
<p><font size=+1> In the past, there has been little or no communication
between an</font>
<br><font size=+1> inward-looking military regime and the international
community.</font>
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