UN Chief To Hold More Burma Talks
UN chief to hold more Burma talks
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to hold a second meeting with Burma’s top military leaders.Mr Ban has asked to meet jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and says he is awaiting a reply while he remains in the country. In his first meeting with General Than Shwe, Mr Ban asked for the release of all Burma’s political prisoners. Ms Suu Kyi’s trial on charges of breaking the terms of her house arrest was postponed again on Friday. A BBC correspondent says these delays suggest Burma’s military rulers may be having second thoughts about the trial. Two-hour meetingMr Ban’s two-hour meeting with Gen Than Shwe took place in the remote administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw on Friday.
“I told him [Gen Than Shwe] that I wanted to meet her [Aung San Suu Kyi], but he told me that she is on trial,” Mr Ban later told reporters. “I told him that this is my proposal, and this is important, and I am waiting for their reply.” Mr Ban said he had been assured that elections planned for 2010 would be “held in a fair, free and transparent manner”. The UN chief’s second meeting with the Burmese leader is scheduled for Saturday morning and later he is due to make a speech outlining his vision for Burma. If Mr Ban is allowed to meet Ms Suu Kyi, he would be the first UN secretary general to do so. Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has spent much of the past two decades in prison or under house arrest. She was transferred from house arrest to prison in May after an American man swam to her lakeside house. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted. Next year’s elections are part of the military government’s “roadmap to democracy,” but critics say they will be a sham designed to strengthen the generals’ four-decade grip on power. Opposition activists say Ms Suu Kyi’s trial is designed to keep her out of the way until after the elections.
Source:BBC
