UN envoy insists on meeting with Suu Kyi
UN envoy insists on meeting with Suu Kyi
Agence France-Presse, Yangon
UN envoy Razali Ismail said he would go ahead with a planned visit to Myanmar on Friday even though the junta has warned he may be barred from seeing Aung San Suu Kyi who has spent a week in detention.
"There was a meeting in New York yesterday where the UN sought the views of countries involved in looking at the issue of Myanmar and they decided I should go," he told AFP in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Razali said the United Nations was "still seeking clarification on whether I will be allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi or not. I have been told (by the regime) that it may not be possible but we have been appealing to them to get me to see her."
Suu Kyi was taken into "protective custody" a week ago after violent clashes erupted between her supporters and a pro-junta mob while she was on a political tour of northern Myanmar.
The Nobel peace laureate sustained injuries from shards of broken glass when her car windscreen was shattered during the melee, according to a source in Yangon. The injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
She was taken to a military camp outside the capital Sunday, and the leadership of her National League for Democracy (NLD) was put under house arrest.
The military junta has denied Suu Kyi was hurt and said only four people died during the clashes, while dissidents and sources in Yangon say dozens are believed to have been killed.
A source close to the national reconciliation process in Myanmar told AFP that Razali would "demand" to see Suu Kyi and hinted he would promptly leave if he was denied access to her.
Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, said only that he had "various options" once he arrived in Yangon on his 10th and most important mission here.
"We have to talk to them in a reasonable fashion. Obviously the right to see Aung San Suu Kyi is there because I have seen her before when she was under house arrest -- what's the difference?"
In Thailand, which borders Myanmar, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said his Myanmar counterpart Win Aung had assured him in writing that the measures taken against the NLD were temporary.
"Thailand is concerned about the situation in Myanmar and hopes the political negotiation process will not be interrupted and will still carry on," he said.