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.