Myanmar top leader meets UN senior official

Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Senior-General Than Shwe met with visiting Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the United Nations Ibrahim Gambari in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw Saturday morning, according to official sources.

Both sides have so far not disclosed the details about their meeting.

Gambari is scheduled to fly back to Yangon later on Saturday to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, detained leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), and senior leaders of some main political parties and social organizations, according to UN sources.

Gambari, as an emissary of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan within the context of the good offices mandate given by the General Assembly and at the invitation of the government of Myanmar, arrived at Yangon on Thursday for the second time since last May on a four-day tour to access the political situation in Myanmar which covers human rights, democratic reform and national reconciliation, earlier UN press release said.

Shortly after his arrival on Thursday, Gambari met with Minister of Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win, Minister of Labor U Thaung and Minister of National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha as well as UN country team in Yangon.

According to UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, the series of Thursday's meetings discussed enhanced cooperation between the UN and Myanmar with Gambari stressing the need for concrete results in areas of concern to the international community. These include the need to make the seven-step political roadmap process more transparent and inclusive, the release of political prisoners, the opening of space for humanitarian assistance and the situation in Kayin state.

Besides, Gambari also met on Friday Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, who is SPDC First Secretary and Chairman of the National Convention Covening Commission, as well as representatives of armed ethnic groups, political parties and members of parliament when he observed the on-going session of the National Convention at the Nyaunghnapin Camp in Hmawby, about 40 kilometers northwest of Yangon, to adopt detailed basic principles for drafting a new state constitution under the first step of the government's seven- point roadmap to democracy.

A week after Gambari ended his previous Myanmar visit earlier in May, the Myanmar government extended on May 27 to another one year house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi who has been put under detention and later house arrest since May 30, 2003 bloody incident, in which clashes occurred between supporters of the government and those of the NLD.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's affairs was raised on Sept. 15 on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) proposed by the United States with the charge that Myanmar's situation poses a threat to the international peace and security.

The UNSC approved the decision by 10 votes in favor, 4 against and 1 abstention to put Myanmar's situations on its agenda. The United States, Britain, France, Argentina, Denmark, Greece, Japan, Ghana, Peru and Slovakia voted in favor, while Russia, China, Qatar and Congo opposed and Tanzania abstained.

Source: Xinhua