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UN envoy to visit Burma to press fo



The Asian Age: 18, Dec 1997.

UN envoy to visit Burma to press for reforms

By K. Baranee Krishnaan
Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 17:  A UN envoy will travel to Burma next month to
press the country's military-led government for free elections, UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Wednesday.

The announcement was greeted by the country's main Opposition National
League for Democracy party as " very good news."

"Next month I'll send a special envoy to Myanmar (Burma)," Mr. Annan
told reporters, adding he made the commitment to Burmese leader
Senior-General Than Shwe. Mr. Annan said he met Mr. Than Shwe, chairman
of Burma's State Peace and Development Council, during a 3 day informal
summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations, which ended in
Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

At a news conference after his four-day visit to Malaysia capital,
Mr.Annan said Mr. Than Shwe told him that Burma was "moving towards
democratization" and had tried to initiate discussion with democratic
activists and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But Mr. Annan said Mr. Than Shwe did not indicate when election could be
held in Burma. "No timetable has been established. However he (Than
Shwe) said the government has made attempts to mend all the conflicts
within and also initiate discussions with Ms Aung San Suu Kyi," Mr.
Annan said.

The former ruling State Law and Restoration Council reconstituted itself
last month as the SPDC in a surprise government reshuffle reportedly
aimed at rooting out corrupt ministers. "But if you talk about
democratization, then there should be free and fair election," Mr. Annan
said.

Asked if he was convinced that democratic reform was genuinely under way
in Burma, Mr. Annan said: it's really quite difficult to say as we have
not been able to send anyone into Burma for a while." " However, I think
it's too premature for me to say that the situation in Burma has change
much," the Secretary-General added.

Asked what the UN hoped to accomplish by sending an envoy to Burma, Mr.
Annan said: "It is a little unusual for the United Nations. We are not
going in with a timetable like we did with Cambodia. What we'd like to
see is free and fair elections and freedom of speech." The United
Nations sponsored and supervised elections in Cambodia in 1993.

The NLD in Burma welcomed the decision to dispatch an envoy to Rangoon,
but mirrored Mr. Annan caution over the peace of democratic reforms in
Burma. "This is very good news. We regard this as a progressive step and
makes us see some light (for democracy)," a member of Ms. Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) party said over telephone from
Rangoon.

But the spokesman expressed scepticism over official Burmese media
reports on Tuesday, quoting SPDC secretary 2, General Tin Oo, as saying
the military should lessen its role in politics.

"I heard such remarks from the radio report, but don't know whether he
really said that," the NLD member said. The Army seized power in 1988
after crushing a nationwide pro-democracy uprising. The Military
government allowed elections in 1990 that were won overwhelmingly by the
NLD, but the former ruling body refused to recognize the result and held
on to power. (Reuter)