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AFP-EU team meets Aung San Suu Kyi



EU team meets Aung San Suu Kyi
YANGON, July 7 (AFP) - European Union envoys met pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi Wednesday on the second day of a mission aimed at nurturing a
human rights dialogue with Myanmar's military rulers.
The EU team, representing Finland, Portugal, the EU secretariat and the
European Commission, held a two-hour meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi and other
National League for Democracy (NLD) leaders, sources here said.

It also emerged that the delegation on Tuesday met with Myanmar's powerful
First Secretary Khin Nyunt who heads the country's military intelligence.

A meeting was also held with Khun Tun Oo, leader of the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy.

A strict veil of silence enveloped the meetings as officials, diplomats and
the EU delegates refused to speak to reporters.

The mission is being conducted in a deliberately low-key manner after press
reports last year set back a World Bank initiative to exchange financial aid
for political reform.

Officials in Yangon said the EU delegation also met Office of Strategic
Studies foreign relations department chief Colonel Thein Swe on Tuesday.

Finnish ambassador to Thailand Tauno Kaaria told AFP Tuesday that the EU
envoys would try to re-establish a dialogue between the EU and the junta.

Kaaria said the mission would also suggest talks between the ruling State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the NLD, which won 1990 elections
by a landslide but has been barred from forming a government.

"If the mission decides that there could be a chance to establish a dialogue
(between the EU and the SPDC) then that definitely would be a step forward,"
Kaaria said.

The EU in 1996 imposed sanctions against Myanmar, including a ban on visas
for top junta officials.

Political dialogue has been frozen ever since, with the junta condemning the
EU's concerns as a neo-colonial attempt to impose Western values on Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma.

The junta's abysmal human rights record has also strained the EU's ties with
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Myanmar joined two
years ago.

Kaaria said "human rights and democracy" were essential topics of discussion
in any future political dialogue between the EU and the SPDC.

"Of course we would like to encourage (talks between the NLD and the SPDC)
but the main goal of this mission is to establish a dialogue between the
SPDC and the EU," he said.

"It's obvious that things have to be resolved within the country and
dialogue between the main parties would be necessary."

Another European diplomat in Bangkok said: "We want to continue the human
rights dialogue on a higher level than the embassies."

Myanmar's junta is repeatedly accused of perpetrating abuses including
forced labour and rape against its largely rural and ethnically diverse
population.

Pressure has been building in recent months for talks between the opposition
and the government, but the positions of the two sides seem as entrenched as
ever.

The government and the NLD have both said they are ready for talks, but the
NLD says Aung San Suu Kyi must be included in the discussions.

Officials have in the past refused to sit down with the Nobel laureate who
is frequently branded in the government controlled media as an agent of
Western powers.

A constitution is currently being drafted by a "national convention" in
Myanmar, but critics charge the body is merely a front for the government
and aims to exclude the NLD from future political life.

The NLD faced calls from within its own ranks for a dialogue in May, when a
group of dissident MPs sparked fury among the leadership by calling for a
new political strategy towards the government.

The renegade MPs were branded "lackeys" of military intelligence by the
leadership, and analysts said there was little likelihood of talks in
Myanmar's poisonous political climate.

Finland took over the EU's six-month rotating presidency from Germany at the
start of July and will be replaced by Portugal next January.