UN Official meets Aung San Suu Kyi

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Friday May 9 11:02 AM EDT 

U.N. Official Meets Burma Opposition Figure

RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - A senior U.N. official met Burmese opposition
leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, who lives under virtual house arrest, in Rangoon Friday, a U.N.
official said. 

Assistant Secretary General Alvaro de Soto met the Nobel Peace laureate at
the home of the
resident representative of the U.N. Development Program, the official said,
without elaborating on
their discussions. 

Senior UNDP officials and other leaders in Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy party were
also at the meeting. 

De Soto, who last visited Burma in August 1995, held talks with Burmese
Foreign Minister Ohn
Gyaw on Thursday. 

State-run media reported the visit with Ohn Gyaw but did not say what they
discussed. Diplomats
said they expected de Soto to discuss the human rights situation in Burma
with Ohn Gyaw and other
leaders in the military government. 

The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council has been accused by the
United Nations and
many Western governments of human rights abuses, including summary
executions, forced labour
and arbitrary arrests of opposition politicians and supporters. 

Government officials were not available to comment on de Soto's visit. 

Earlier in the day U.N. officials were not sure if de Soto would be allowed
to visit Suu Kyi, who has
been under virtual house arrest since student demonstrations in December. 

The government must approve visitors and allow them to pass barricades that
bar access to the
street leading to her home. 

The U.N. official would not say if the visit had originally been planned to
be at the UNDP residence
or if it had been changed because de Soto could not get past the barricades. 

De Soto arrived on Wednesday for a four-day official visit. 

His August 1995 visit came only one month after Suu Kyi was released from
six years of house
arrest. He had been refused permission to see Suu Kyi on a previous trip. 

De Soto has held several rounds of talks with Rangoon's military leaders on
the human rights
situation in Burma.