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Reuters : Annan talks to Suu Kyi's



Annan talks to Suu Kyi's husband in Myanmar dispute 
05:42 p.m Jul 31, 1998 Eastern 

By Evelyn Leopold 

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke by
telephone on Friday to the husband of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, who was recently prevented by the country's military from meeting
her supporters. 

U.N. officials said the call was part of Annan's efforts to keep informed
about the conflict in Myanmar where the military government has ignored
results of 1990 elections won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. 

``We can confirm that the secretary-general had a phone conversation with
Dr. Michael Aris,'' the British husband of Suu Kyi, U.N. spokesman
Juan-Carlos Brandt said. 

Aris, an Oxford academic, is currently in New York while Annan is on a
retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the weekend with World Bank President
James Wolfensohn. 

This week, in a move that drew sharp international criticism, security
officers forced Suu Kyi to end a six-day, sit-in protest in a car outside
the capital, Yangon after she and three associates last Friday were
prevented from travelling to a meeting with her supporters. 

In response, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Sydney that
she and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had asked Annan ``to
become personally involved'' in persuading the country's military
government to open a dialogue with Suu Kyi. 

She said Annan had agreed to ``take a very careful look'' at the proposal
and talk with the two ministers again shortly, ``We think increasing
international pressure ... and our pushing for a dialogue is a way to
proceed.'' 

The U.N. officials said Annan was in touch with Albright and Downer and
also had received messages from people close to Suu Kyi, other than her
husband, and responded to them. No details were given. 

Annan earlier this week announced he would send Alvaro De Soto, the
assistant secretary-general for political affairs, to Myanmar if the
government would set a date. U.N. officials said there had been no response
from Yangon. 

De Soto has made several trips to Myanmar on a mandate from the General
Assembly as well as the secretary-general, but made little progress with
the government, which has been shunned by the West for almost a decade. 

But U.N. officials do not expect Annan to visit the country. The military
has so far failed to respond to appeals to move toward democracy by the
U.N. General Assembly or in negotiations with senior U.N. officials. 

Annan has made few public comments on the current controversy in Myanmar,
saying only that he shared the concern of U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights Mary Robinson, who called on the government to let Suu Kyi travel
freely. 

Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but was never
allowed to take power. The military had seized power in 1988 after crushing
demonstrations. It also changed the country's name to Myanmar from Burma 

Suu Kyi, the daughter of independence leader Aung San, was put under six
years of house arrest and released in July 1995 after winning the 1993
Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent campaign for democracy.