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NEWS- UN Envoy to Meet Myanmar Junt
UN Envoy to Meet Myanmar Junta Leaders, Suu Kyi
Reuters
19-JAN-98
YANGON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A United Nations special envoy
is due to arrive
in Myanmar (Burma) on Tuesday for talks with top leaders
of the ruling
military junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, UN
sources based
here said on Monday.
Alvaro De Soto, assistant UN secretary-general, will urge
the ruling State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to speed up the
drafting of
Myanmar's new constitution and the holding of free and
fair elections in the
country, they told Reuters.
``During the visit, he will meet with the SPDC leaders
and is expected to urge
the SPDC to speed up the process of drafting a new
constitution and holding
free and fair elections again,'' a UN source told
Reuters.
De Soto's three day visit will also include discussions
with Suu Kyi, leader of
the main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD),
with which the
military has been at odds for some time now.
Political analysts said he was expected to urge the two
sides to talk to each
other.
The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but
the military junta
ignored the results, refused to hand over power to the
election winner and
curbed Suu Kyi's activities since she was released from
six years of house
arrest in 1995.
The previous military government, the State Law and Order
Restoration
Council (SLORC), which changed its name to the SPDC late
last year,
created a National Convention of appointed
representatives to draft a new
constitution in early 1993.
But so far little progress has been made in the drafting
of the constitution
and the convention has been dormant.
De Soto last visited Myanmar in May, 1997 when he met
Lieutenant General
Khin Nyunt, the powerful Secretary One of the then ruling
SLORC. He then
separately met with Suu Kyi and other political leaders.
His visit as special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan follows
Annan's meeting with Myanmar premier Senior General Than
Shwe at an
ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, last December.
``Kofi Annan told the media after his meeting with Than
Shwe that one of the
goals of the UN General Assembly is to promote a dialogue
between the
SPDC and NLD,'' a political analyst said.