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Gambari may meet Suu Kyi again

SINGAPORE: United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari “expects … early initiation of dialogue aimed at accelerating … the restoration of democracy” in Myanmar.

Mr. Gambari is now in the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw on a U.N. Security Council-endorsed mission to persuade the military regime to move towards democracy.

Mr. Gambari has expressed this view after meeting the ruling junta’s liaison officer, Aung Kyi, who held talks with the celebrated democracy campaigner, Aung San Suu Kyi, in Yangon, Myanmar’s former capital, towards the end of last month.

Ms. Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Laureate and now the world’s most famous political prisoner, remains under house arrest in Yangon.

It was after Mr. Gambari’s talks with Myanmar’s military ruler, Than Shwe, in Naypitaw on October 2 that the regime appointed Mr. Aung Kyi as the liaison officer for paving the way for possible dialogue between Ms. Suu Kyi and the junta chief. Mr. Gambari was then on his first U.N.-sponsored mission to Myanmar after the junta’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters including Buddhist monks and students.

During his current visit, Mr. Gambari held talks with Mr. Aung Kyi and Myanmar’s Foreign Minister, Nyan Win, in Naypitaw on Sunday.

The U.N. envoy is now expected to meet Prime Minister Thein Sein and Ms. Suu Kyi within the next few days. The U.N. said, in a statement, that Mr. Gambari held “extensive and detailed exchanges” with Mr. Aung Kyi about his earlier meeting with Ms. Suu Kyi. Mr. Gambari “will stay in Myanmar as long as necessary to accomplish his mission,” the U.N. emphasised.

Myanmar is a member of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). And, Singapore, in its capacity as the ASEAN Chair, has indicated that the current international efforts relating to Myanmar are aimed at impressing on the authorities there that there can be “no return to the status quo ante” in regard to the recent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

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