Junta leader to attend A-A Summit<\/p>\n
Agencies, Yangon<\/p>\n
The leader of Myanmar's ruling military government planned to
\nattend an Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta next week, days after
\nYangon came under renewed pressure for its human rights record, a
\ndiplomat said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Myanmar has faced growing pressure not to chair the 10-member
\nASEAN in 2006 after other nations in the regional grouping said
\nthey were growing increasingly frustrated by Yangon's slow pace
\nof democratic reform and its treatment of political prisoners.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations sidestepped the issue at a gathering in the Philippines
\nthis week by postponing a decision on whether Myanmar should
\nchair the group.<\/p>\n
Senior General Than Shwe would leave for the Indonesian
\ncapital on April 20 to attend the summit on April 23, a senior
\nIndonesian diplomat told Reuters.<\/p>\n
In a separate development, a Philippine presidential palace
\nstatement said that President Gloria Arroyo is to make a four-day
\ntrip to Indonesia from April 21 to take part in a summit of Asian
\nand African countries.<\/p>\n
Analysts and diplomats in Yangon say Than Shwe is expected to
\nseek bilateral meetings with ASEAN counterparts on the sidelines
\nof the summit to discuss the issue of Yangon's chairmanship.<\/p>\n
An ASEAN diplomat speculated Myanmar might press ahead and
\nassume the grouping's rotating chair, which is based on
\nalphabetical order. Malaysia is the current chair.<\/p>\n
\"So far as I can see, they will not give up the chair. They
\nwill go ahead. I'm not sure whether they will yield to outside
\ndemands,\" said the diplomat who asked not to be identified.<\/p>\n
The United States and Europe have threatened not to attend any
\nASEAN meetings hosted by Myanmar. Washington has also said it
\nmight withhold funding to several development projects in the
\nregion, particularly in poorer Southeast Asian nations.<\/p>\n
Europe and the United States have shunned Myanmar and slapped
\nsanctions on Yangon since the military government's latest
\ndetention of Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, in May 2003.<\/p>\n
ASEAN members want Yangon to put a timetable on its road map
\nto democracy and to free Suu Kyi.<\/p>\n
Yangon-based analysts hold different views on the issue.<\/p>\n
\"They have three options: give in to outside demands and take
\nthe chair, take the chair without doing anything, or give up the
\nchair on a reasonable pretext,\" a local analyst said.<\/p>\n
\"The first choice is most unlikely. They don't want to release
\nher (Suu Kyi) before they finish drawing up the constitution,\" he
\nsaid, referring to a drawn-out process to draft a new charter and
\ncalled a sham by the West.<\/p>\n
\"If they choose the second option, there will be some
\ncomplicated consequences for the whole group.\"<\/p>\n
\"We think they are likely to give up the chair, citing they
\nare very busy and preoccupied with implementing the political
\nroad map,\" said the analyst in Yangon on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said on Monday it would
\nbe better for Myanmar to make a decision soon to avoid dragging
\nASEAN into Yangon's domestic politics.<\/p>\n
Singapore and several other ASEAN members have shown signs of
\nimpatience with Yangon's slow reform progress, in a rare breach
\nof the group's long-held principle of non-interference in
\nmembers' internal affairs.<\/p>\n
Yangon has promised to bring the country back to democracy
\nthrough a series of reforms based on a seven-stage roadmap laid
\nout in 2003 by then prime minister Khin Nyunt, who was purged
\nlast October.<\/p>\n
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
\nMyanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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