UN chief leaves Myanmar 'disappointed' with junta

John Heilprin ,  The Associated Press ,  Yangon   |  Sun, 07/05/2009 9:15 AM  |  World

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ended a mission to Myanmar saying he was "deeply disappointed" that the isolated nation's top military ruler denied him a visit to jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In two days of rare talks with Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the UN chief urged the reclusive 76-year-old autocrat to release Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and embark on democratic reforms ahead of elections scheduled for next year.

But their meetings Friday and Saturday in Naypyitaw, the junta's remote administrative capital, left Ban saying that his diplomatic gambit had produced no immediate results and amounted to "a setback to the international community's efforts to provide a helping hand to Myanmar".

"I am deeply disappointed that they have missed a very important opportunity," Ban said.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained by the ruling generals for nearly 14 of the past 20 years and is now on trial charged with violating her house arrest. The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate faces five years in prison if convicted in a trial that has sparked global outrage.

"I pressed as hard as I could to see Suu Kyi", Ban said after meeting with Than Shwe. "I had hoped that he would agree to my request, but it is regrettable that he did not."

Ban said Than Shwe expressed a commitment to hold credible elections sometime in 2010.

"He was saying that after that he will hand over power to civilians," Ban said Saturday in the Yangon airport to a handful of reporters traveling with him. "What he told me was that when I come back again he may be a civilian."

Opposition activists have said the generals intend to keep Suu Kyi behind bars through the 2010 polls and ban her party from contesting them.

A senior UN official told The Associated Press the idea of involving UN observers in the election next year was raised, and Than Shwe seemed somewhat receptive. But the official said that would only be done if the election seemed credible, since "we won't take part in a farce".

Suu Kyi's opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar's generals refused to relinquish power. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

Ban said the junta chief told him repeatedly that "he really wanted to agree to my request" but because Suu Kyi was on trial he did not want to be seen as interfering with the judicial process - which he nevertheless oversees - or being pressured by the outside world.

The UN remains unable to budge the junta on its refusal to free its estimated 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

In May, Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American man swam secretly to her lakeside home and stayed for two days. Suu Kyi's trial was set to resume after a month-long delay on Friday, the same day the UN chief arrived. But the court met for a brief session to adjourn until July 10.
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