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NEWS - Envoy Says UN to Help Resolv
Note: Apparently a Burmese person is working for Reuters. ??
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Envoy Says UN to Help Resolve Myanmar Concerns
Reuters
23-JAN-98
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - United
Nations special envoy Alvaro De Soto
said on Friday that he had raised a
number of the world community's
concerns about Myanmar (Burma)
with its military leaders and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
during his visit this week.
He also discussed ways the United
Nations Secretary General Kofi
Annan might be able to assist the
government and the people of
Myanmar address these concerns,
De Soto told reporters without giving
details.
Myanmar's junta has been accused
by the local opposition and the West
of abusing human rights and curbing
democratic movements and the
political activities of Aung San Suu
Kyi, who leads the main opposition
National League or Democracy
(NLD) party.
De Soto met senior figures in the
government and Suu Kyi during his
three-day visit.
``The UN assembly and the Human
Rights Commission have raised a
number of concerns about the
situation in Myanmar which are well
known,'' he said.
``I have had substantive meetings
with Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw,
Secretary One of the SPDC
Lieutenant Khin Nyunt and Senior
General Than Shwe. And I have also
met with the leader of the NLD, Aung
San Suu Kyi,'' he added.
``We have discussed ways in which
the (UN) Secretary General might
assist the Myanmar people and
Myanmar authorities and leaders in
addressing these concerns,'' De Soto
said.
The envoy said he would return to
New York on Friday and report to
Annan, who would then submit an
interim report about his efforts on
Myanmar to the Human Rights
Commission in about one and a half
months.
De Soto's visit was the result of talks
between Annan and Than Shwe in
the sidelines of an ASEAN summit in
Kuala Lumpur last December.
Annan had told reporters after
meeting Than Shwe that he would
send a special envoy to discuss
accelerating the drafting of the
country's new national constitution
and the possibility of holding free and
fair elections soon.
Previous efforts to start direct talks
between Suu Kyi and the military
junta have failed ever since the
opposition leader was released from
six years of house arrest in 1995.
De Soto last met Suu Kyi in May,
1997. Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy party won a landslide
victory during a 1990 general election
but the military ignored the results of
the election and has run the country
with an iron hand since. ^MORE@
Reut10:27 01-23-98 SLUG:
BC-MYANMAR-ENVOY