AFP-Philippines to ask Myanmar to a

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Subject: AFP-Philippines to ask Myanmar to allow visit by UN envoy

Myanmar-UN
   Philippines to ask Myanmar to allow visit by UN envoy

   MANILA, June 1 (AFP) - The Philippines will ask Myanmar to allow a visit
there by a special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Foreign
Secretary
Domingo Siazon said Tuesday.
   Philippine President Joseph Estrada informed UN Deputy Secretary-General
Louise Frechette of Manila's initiative during their meeting here on Monday,
Siazon told reporters.
   "We told her that we are working with Myanmar on the visit of the
representative of (the) UN Secretary-General together with a team of World
Bank" officials," Siazon said.
   The proposed visit would be "to talk about development and other issues,"
he added.
   The UN Human Rights Commission passed a resolution in April condemning
Yangon for widespread human rights abuses.
   Myanmar's ruling military junta is accused of human rights abuses
including
torture and forced labor and is vilified for refusing to cede power to the
pro-democracy opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, which won a landslide
victory in elections in 1990.
   Annan's special envoy, Alvaro de Soto, had visited Yangon last October
with
Manila's help. Both countries are members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
   Siazon said he will be meeting the Myanmarese foreign minister on
Wednesday
in Tokyo. Siazon will be accompanying Estrada to Japan on a three-day
working
visit.
   str/cgm/rob