UN envoy extends Burma visit after Suu Kyi no-show

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is extending his five-day visit to Burma until today in an apparent effort to meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
23/08/2008 - 10:10:18
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari is extending his five-day visit to Burma until today in an apparent effort to meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ms Suu Kyi failed to appear at a scheduled meeting on Wednesday amid speculation that she may be dissatisfied with the UN's hitherto fruitless efforts to affect change in the military-ruled nation.

Mr Gambari's five earlier visits beginning in mid-2006 failed to forge either a dialogue between Ms Suu Kyi and the military or to secure her release from more than 12 years under house arrest. Mr Gambari has usually met Ms Suu Kyi on previous trips.

A government official, who demanded anonymity, said Mr Gambari would leave Burma today rather than yesterday as originally scheduled.

Two Gambari aides were seen by neighbours outside the gate of Ms Suu Kyi's home yesterday, trying to get her attention. They left when nobody came out to meet them.

Mr Gambari and Ms Suu Kyi were to have met on Wednesday at a guest house but the Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not come. Neither the UN nor the government has said anything about the aborted meeting.

"We don't really know the reason why she did not meet Mr. Gambari. But we knew that she was unhappy with the situation," said Nyan Win, spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

Mr Gambari met the five other executive members of Ms Suu Kyi's party for more than an hour yesterday. Nyan Win, who was not present at the meeting, said they discussed the issue of Burma's political prisoners.

Party executives who met Mr Gamabri on Wednesday told him that they regarded May's referendum that approved a new military-backed constitution as unfree and unfair.

Under the circumstances, they suggested that the UN not discuss a general election the ruling junta has scheduled for 2010.

Various UN efforts to promote dialogue between the junta and the opposition have come to nothing after initial speculation that they have represented breakthroughs in the country's political deadlock.