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UN envoy visits Myanmar, hopes to meet Suu Kyi
RESTRICTIONS: The junta said it would allow the UN envoy to meet four
lawyers from Aung San Suu Kyi¡¦s party, but not see the democracy leader herself
AFP , YANGON, MYANMAR
Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010, Page 3
¡§It would be important for me to meet with political party leaders in the
context of this year¡¦s landmark elections.¡¨¡X Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN rights
envoy
A UN envoy arrived in military-ruled Myanmar yesterday to examine its progress
on human rights ahead of elections, days after the junta freed a key aide to
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Tomas Ojea Quintana expects to meet Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win but not
reclusive junta head Than Shwe during his five-day trip, the third he has made
to the isolated Southeast Asian nation since his appointment in 2008.
Quintana has said he also wants to meet Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi, who has
been detained for most of the past 20 years, but the ruling generals have not
said if they will allow the Argentine diplomat to do so.
He arrived by commercial flight at Yangon airport and was taken to his hotel
before meeting with UN staff, a Myanmar official said on condition of anonymity.
The junta has so far agreed to a meeting between Quintana and four lawyers from
Suu Kyi¡¦s National League for Democracy (NLD), said an official and NLD party
spokesman, also called Nyan Win.
¡§We four lawyers will meet with Mr Quintana this evening ... We do not know the
reason. It¡¦s their proposal. I still do not know yet whether the envoy will meet
with the NLD party,¡¨ Nyan Win said.
Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Yangon, but the junta on Saturday freed
Tin Oo, the elderly vice chairman of NLD who had been detained for the past
seven years.
In a statement issued last week ahead of his five-day visit, Quintana said this
year was ¡§a critical time for the people of Myanmar.¡¨
¡§It would be important for me to meet with political party leaders in the
context of this year¡¦s landmark elections,¡¨ he said. ¡§I hope that my request to
the government to meet with ... Aung San Suu Kyi will be granted this time.¡¨
Myanmar officials said Quintana would go outside the former capital Yangon
yesterday and fly to Sittwe, in Western Rakhine state, near the country¡¦s border
with Bangladesh.
Quintana had meant to visit Myanmar back in November, but his visit was
repeatedly pushed back. He was appointed to his human rights role in May 2008 in
the wake of a cyclone that left around 138,000 people dead.
On Thursday the envoy is due to return to Yangon to visit the country¡¦s
notorious Insein prison where dozens of political dissidents are held, and later
meet with representatives of ethnic groups.
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