UN envoy Alatas arrives in Myanmar to meet leaders

UN envoy Alatas arrives in Myanmar to meet leaders

Agence France-Presse, Yangon

Former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas arrived in Myanmar
on Thursday as a special envoy of the United Nations, which two
years ago appointed him to push for the release of democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Alatas, the first special envoy allowed here in more than a
year, said after arriving on the unannounced visit that he
carried a message from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for the
nation's reclusive military rulers, but declined to give details.

"I came here as the envoy of the secretary general on UN
reform," he told reporters. "I'm hoping to discuss UN reforms
that will be discussed in September in New York with the
government in Myanmar."

Alatas was appointed in 2003 as a special envoy to Myanmar to
negotiate the release of opposition leader Suu Kyi. The popular
Nobel peace laureate has been detained by Myanmar's junta since
May the same year.

The former minister has since also been named one of the UN's
special envoys to promote reforms in the world body, which will
be debated at a summit of global leaders next month at UN
headquarters in New York.

UN officials said Alatas's visit was part of a tour of several
Asian nations before the September summit, although Myanmar has
not said if it will attend that meeting.

Alatas said he planned to meet the military government's top
leadership, but did not know if he would meet officials from Suu
Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy.

The NLD said it only learned of Alatas's trip from overseas
reports on short-wave radio but it hoped to meet him.

"NLD is expecting to meet with the special envoy if we have a
chance to. We are excited to see him," party spokesman Nya Win
said.

Alatas is the first special UN envoy allowed into the country
since March 2004, when Malaysian Razali Ismail visited.

Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win snubbed Razali last month
when he declined to meet him on the sidelines of a meeting of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos.

At that meeting, the junta agreed to skip its turn at ASEAN's
rotating chairmanship amid intense international pressure for Suu
Kyi's release from house arrest.

Two weeks ago the junta allowed the head of the UN's World
Food Program, James Morris to visit the country. He met NLD
leaders as well as Prime Minister Gen. Soe Win.

Asada Chaiyanama, Thailand's former ambassador to the UN who
also served in Myanmar, said in Bangkok that dispatching Alatas
could be a way to push Myanmar to reform after Yangon
relinquished the ASEAN chair.

"Most of the ASEAN countries agree relinquishing the chair is
not enough. They have to do some internal reforms too," Asada
said.

By casting the trip as a UN reform mission, Asada said "if
nothing gets delivered, no one loses face."

Myanmar dissidents have feared that the international
community lost a lever to press for pro-democracy reforms and for
Suu Kyi's release after the junta agreed to pass up the ASEAN
chair.

The junta has vowed to stick to its own seven-point "road map"
to democracy, beginning with talks on a new constitution expected
to resume late this year. The United States, the European Union
and the UN have dismissed the talks as unrepresentative for
failing to include the NLD.