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JAKARTA: United Nations envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari said
Thursday that he would raise the issue of Aung San Suu Kyi being
banned from 2010 elections when he visits the military regime as
early as next month.
The ruling junta said this week that democracy
activist Aung San Suu Kyi would be barred from running in polls
slated under a proposed constitution, which has been drafted for
approval in a May referendum.
When asked about the ban and whether the
election would be pointless without Aung San Suu Kyi’s
participation, Gambari told reporters: “These are some of the
issues that I intend to discuss with the authorities.
“I believe that they are in the process of
inviting me to return to Myanmar, hopefully the first week of
March,” he said.
Gambari said this after meeting with Indonesian
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and ahead of talks with President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday.
The envoy, who is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s
main man on promoting national reconciliation in Myanmar, is on a
trip all over Asia for regional consultations about the isolated
regime.
Gambari held talks in Beijing earlier this week
and will travel on to Singapore and then Japan, his spokeswoman Hua
Jiang told AFP. The envoy said after meeting Chinese officials that
he expected to return to Myanmar earlier than April 15, the date
authorities there initially said they would receive him.
Ban said it was “essential” that Gambari be
allowed to re-enter the country, particularly after the junta this
month announced the referendum date.
Gambari has visited Myanmar twice since
September when the military junta violently crushed the biggest
pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years.
The generals said the referendum, if approved,
would clear the way for democratic elections in 2010, the first
since Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party
scored a landslide victory in the 1990 polls, which the junta never
recognized.
The United States on Wednesday called the
proposed constitution a failure as it banned the widowed Aung San
Suu Kyi from running for office on the basis that she had been
married to a foreigner.
Indonesia has pushed for engagement with Myanmar
and Foreign Minister Wirayuda has said that his country could play a
significant role by sharing its experience of transition from a
military government to full democracy.
-- AFP
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