AFP-Australian rights commissioner

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Subject: AFP-Australian rights commissioner expected to meet Aung San Suu Kyi

Australian rights commissioner expected to meet Aung San Suu Kyi
YANGON, Aug 3 (AFP) - Australian human rights commissioner Chris Sidoti is
expected to meet Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi Tuesday or
Wednesday to discuss rights abuses under the military regime, officials
said.
A junta spokesman said the commissioner was welcome in Myanmar despite
Yangon's refusal to meet other international human rights officials as well
as the United Nation's special rapporteur, Rajsoomer Lallah.

He said Sidoti's visit would enhance "cooperation" between Australia and the
junta on human rights issues in Myanmar.

"We welcome the visit of Mr. Chris Sidoti, human rights commissioner of
Australia, during which we hope to exchange views and explore avenues where
we can cooperate in the further promotion of the rights of the Myanmar
people," he told reporters here late Monday.

Sidoti arrived Sunday and met Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing and Chief
Justice Aung Toe on Monday, the spokesman said.

Tin Hlaing was a senior government negotiator in failed talks with Aung San
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party in 1997.

Sidoti is also expected to meet the NLD leader and nobel laureate who won
the country's last general elections in 1990 but has never been allowed to
form a government.

The four-day visit is being kept under tight wraps by the Australian embassy
here, which has refused to comment other than to direct inquiries to
Sidoti's office in Australia.

"He'll make some comments when he returns to Australia but our instructions
are that this is not a matter for the department of foreign affairs," an
Australian envoy here told AFP.

The talks between Australia's top human rights monitor and the junta were
suggested by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer a year ago,
officials in Australia said last week.

Downer has said Sidoti would raise the prospect of establishing an
independent national human rights commission in Myanmar.

The junta in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is blamed for gross human
rights abuses including the rape and torture of ethnic minorities.


"It's a first step and it will be an incremental process," Downer said last
week.

"But we want to do what we can to see an improvement in human rights in
Burma."

The regime has refused to open a political dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi
about a transition of power despite pressure from the international
community.