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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.