ASEAN push won't secure Suu Kyi release: UN

ASEAN push won't secure Suu Kyi release: UN

Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Southeast Asia's new campaign for the Myanmar junta to release
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is unlikely to be successful
any time soon, United Nations envoy Razali Ismail said on
Thursday.

Razali welcomed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) decision to send their own envoy to the military-run
state to check on the progress of promised democratic reforms and
push for the release of political prisoners.

"It's a wonderful decision and it's good that the ASEAN
countries have been able to persuade Myanmar to make this visit
and I hope it will be a very meaningful visit which will clarify
all aspects," he told AFP.

But Razali, the representative of UN chief Kofi Annan, warned
that Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was unlikely to
achieve any coups when he carries out his mission to Yangon,
expected next month.

"There is a lot of expectation that commitments given by
Myanmar to ASEAN will be lived up to and... the release of Aung
San Suu Kyi is one of the commitments given," he said on the
sidelines of a peace forum here.

"But I don't think it's something that can happen just like
that," he said. "We'll have to allow the leaders of the military
regime there to work something out, but it's not going to happen
instantaneously."

Razali said the fact that Myanmar's ruling generals had agreed
to the visit was positive.

"I'm hopeful that the foreign minister of Malaysia will be
able to express the collective sense of impatience and concern
about the Myanmar issue discrediting ASEAN, and hopefully this
will have an impact on the Myanmar leaders to want to do
something."

Razali said that although he has not been able to visit the
country since March 2004, the United Nations was "happy" to
continue its efforts to engage with Myanmar.

But he stressed that the world body would increasingly depend
on regional nations to exert whatever influence they could on
their neighbor, which has earned pariah status for refusing to
end four decades of military rule.

ASEAN aired its new stand on Myanmar at this week's summit in
the Malaysian capital, demanding progress on political reforms
and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has
spent 10 of the last 16 years in detention.

Myanmar's regime earlier this month confirmed that the current
house arrest restrictions against her had been extended by six
months.

Debbie Stothard, from the pressure group Alternative ASEAN
Network on Burma, welcomed the regional bloc's "long overdue"
change of tack, which was a major departure from its policy of
non-interference in other members' affairs.

"It's not going to be an easy job but we are hoping that if
Syed Hamid Albar is backed by the rest of ASEAN then the regime
will respect what he's representing and what needs to be done,"
she said.

Stothard said that rather than just securing the release of
political prisoners, ASEAN should demand a genuine reconciliation
dialogue between the pro-democracy opposition, ethnic leaders and
the regime.

Otherwise, when the mood turned sour in Myanmar the generals
would simply retrace their steps and haul all their opponents
back to jail.

"Burma (Myanmar) has a habit of recycling political prisoners.
They have this revolving door where they release people after a
lot of pressure and re-imprison them later on when they think no
one else is looking," she said.