UN envoy discusses dialogue framework with Burma junta

Gambari, who arrived in Yangon Saturday and immediately flew onto the military's new capital of Naypyidaw, met with Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Minister for Foreign Relations Aung Kyi, said the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Rangoon.

"The Special Advisor expects that these initial steps will lead to early initiation of dialogue aimed at accelerating inclusive national reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and the full respect for human rights," said the UNIC in a statement.

 Aung Kyi has been appointed to facilitate Gambari's mission to initiate a process of national reconciliation between the ruling military, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, other opposition politicians and ethnic minority groups in the aftermath of a brutal crackdown on monk-led protests in Yangon on September 26-27.

The recent army-led attacks on Buddhist monks and their laymen followers have again brought Burma's junta back into the limelight of international condemnation.

The UN dispatched Gambari to the country from September 29 to October 3, when he was granted interviews with Suu Kyi and military supremo Senior General Than Shwe.

Than Shwe at the time vowed to personally hold talks with Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, provided she denounce her support for economic sanctions against the regime that were first put in place in 1988 after another army crackdown on demonstrations that left an estimated 3,000 people dead.

There is great skepticism that the military, which has ruled Burma for the past 45 years, has any intention of sharing power with civilian politicians in the near future.

Gambari, the third UN special envoy to Burma in eight years, faces a tough job in persuading Burma's xenophobic generals to initiate a dialogue which will ultimately loosen their iron grip on power.

On the eve of Gambari's arrival, the junta denied UN country chief Charles James Petrie a renewal of his visa, meaning he must depart immediately after the expiry of his current visa later this month.

Petrie's effective expulsion was reportedly prompted by a statement he issued on October 24, in which he said the September protests "clearly demonstrated the everyday struggle to meet basic needs and the urgent necessity to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country." 

The statement outraged Burma's military rulers, who have styled themselves the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

//DPA