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YANGON: Myanmar’s junta Saturday refused to accept foreign
observers at a referendum set for May, further dimming any hopes for
reforms to bring democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi into their
election plans.
The rejection came just hours after UN envoy
Ibrahim Gambari was allowed a rare meeting with the detained Nobel
peace prize winner and top leaders of her National League for
Democracy (NLD) party.
Throughout Gambari’s visit, the military has
rebuffed international pressure to bring Aung San Suu Kyi and the
NLD into its election plans, while casting an accusing eye at UN
efforts to mediate a dialogue between the two sides.
Gambari offered UN technical assistance and
help with facilitating observers at the planned referendum when he
met Friday with members of the commission tasked with organizing the
vote, according to state television.
Thaung Nyung, a member of the commission,
rejected the offer, saying the referendum was a domestic affair.
“We have enough experience, but we take note
of your offer,” Thaung Nyung said, according to state television
late Saturday.
“Holding the referendum on the constitution is
within the country’s sovereignty,” he said. “For internal
affairs in the past, we have never had observers from outside.”
The commission answered few of Gambari’s
questions about the referendum and declined to give an exact date
for the balloting, saying only that it would take place on a single
day, state television reported.
The information minister, Brigadier General Kyaw
Hsan, told Gambari on Friday that the junta would not make any
changes to the constitution going into the referendum, and then
accused the envoy of bias in favor of Aung San Suu Kyi.
State media gave no details of Gambari’s talks
with the democracy leader, but broadcast images of their meeting.
She dressed in a traditional red longyi, and appeared serious in
their conversations.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent 12 of the last 18
years under house arrest, and is allowed little contact with the
outside world. Her image, and even her name, rarely appears in
official media.
The military surprised the world by announcing
its election timeline one month ago, announcing the referendum which
it says will pave the way for multiparty elections in 2010.
If held, the polls would be the first since Aung
San Suu Kyi led the NLD to a landslide victory in 1990 elections, a
result never recognized by the regime.
The new constitution would bar Aung San Suu Kyi
from future elections because of her marriage to a foreigner, the
late Briton Michael Aris.
-- AFP
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