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NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
began what he called a “very tough” mission to Myanmar on
Friday, vowing to press the head of the ruling junta for the release
of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners.
Ban flew in to the military-ruled
nation as a prison court adjourned the internationally condemned
trial of the detained Nobel Peace laureate for another week.
He said he would urge reclusive
regime leader Senior General Than Shwe during their meeting in the
capital Naypyidaw later Friday for permission to visit the
64-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi.
“It is a very tough mission,”
the UN chief told reporters shortly after his arrival in the main
city of Yangon on a commercial flight from Singapore.
“One of my objectives is to
obtain the release of all political prisoners including Aung San Suu
Kyi,” he said, adding that he was also going to “convey the
concern of the international community” and press for
reconciliation and democracy.
He then flew to Naypyidaw, the
jungle capital purpose-built on the orders of Than Shwe in 2006,
ahead of talks with the military supremo.
Measure of success
Rights
groups warn that the trip will be a “huge failure” if he does
not secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of
the last two decades in detention.
The pro-democracy icon was
transferred from house arrest to Yangon’s notorious Insein prison
in May for trial on charges of breaching the terms of her house
arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside home.
Suu Kyi faces up to five years in
jail if convicted and critics have accused the junta of using the
trial to keep her locked up for elections that the ruling generals
have promised in 2010.
She appeared in court Friday but
the trial was adjourned for a week because the judges had not
received an earlier judgment barring two defense witnesses, said
Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD).
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi attended
the trial this morning but the court said that as they haven’t got
the case from the Supreme Court the trial is suspended to July
10,” Nyan Win, who is also part of her legal team, told Agence
France-Presse.
The case has sparked
international outrage, with US President Barack Obama calling it a
“show trial” and a host of world leaders and celebrities calling
for her release.
Aware of uncertainties
Ban
earlier made an apparent reference to concerns over the timing of
his visit while her trial is still under way, saying he was aware
that he was coming to Myanmar “under certain uncertainties.”
“I will try to meet with
representatives of all registered political parties including Aung
San Suu Kyi, that’s my hope. But I have to raise this issue with
the Senior General directly, in person,” he said in Singapore also
on Thursday.
As well as Than Shwe, Ban said he
would also meet with Prime Minister Thein Sein and representatives
of all registered political parties and former armed groups.
Ban has faced recent criticisms
for his softly-softly approach to the job of secretary-general, but
diplomats say he is hoping his quiet brand of diplomacy will pay
dividends with Myanmar’s generals.
The visit is Ban’s first to
Myanmar since he persuaded the junta to accept international aid in
the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which killed
around 138,000 people.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been in
detention or under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years since
the junta refused to recognize the NLD’s landslide victory in
Myanmar’s last elections, in 1990.
Human Rights Watch said Ban
should not accept the apparent concession from the junta of
returning her to house arrest, instead of imprisoning her, as a sign
of a successful visit.
“Time and again, the UN has
politely requested Aung San Suu Kyi’s release, but her
‘release’ back to house arrest would be a huge failure,”
Kenneth Roth, New York-based Human Rights Watch executive director,
said in a statement.
Philippine position
Meanwhile,
the United Kingdom lauded the tough stance of the Philippines on Suu
Kyi’s release, according to a statement also on Friday from the
British Embassy in Manila.
“The UK is immensely grateful
to the Philippine government for the leading role that [it] has
played in the Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] on
Myanmar,” said Ivan Lewis, Britain’s minister of State for
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. “The tough statements Suu Kyi
and the position [it has] taken on the death penalty are an example
to other states in the region.”
Lewis recently met with
Philippine Foreign Affairs officials led by Undersecretary for
Policy Enrique Manalo during the first high-level bilateral talks
between the Philippines and the UK in London on Thursday.
Earlier, Philippine Foreign
Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo expressed fears that Myanmar’s
military junta would convict Suu Kyi on charges allegedly violating
her house arrest terms to prolong her imprisonment.
He added that the junta has
totally abandoned its commitment to implement the roadmap to
democracy that includes the release of Suu Kyi along with 2,000
political prisoners there.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,
has been ruled by the military since 1962.
--AFP With Llanesca T. Panti
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