UN's Gambari fails to meet Suu Kyi, Myanmar generals
No show: UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari (2nd L) talks with leaders of the National League for Democracy Party in Yangon on Wednesday. Gambari met briefly top leaders from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, but his planned meeting with her did not take place, a party spokesman said.Picture: AFP
Saturday, August 23, 2008
UN ENVOY Ibrahim Gambari held a second meeting with top leaders of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party yesterday, but again failed to meet her or senior junta leaders.
Five leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) met for 90 minutes with Gambari, following a 20-minute meeting on Wednesday, party spokesman Nyan Win told reporters.
He declined to reveal the substance of their discussions, saying only that they had agreed to talk again before Gambari's departure, which is now set for today.
"We haven't set a time, but we will meet again as soon as possible," he said.
So far, Gambari's only meetings with government officials have been at the ministerial level. Top junta officials have ignored him, just as they shunned the envoy during his last mission here in March.
Nyan Win said the party did not know why Gambari had not met with Aung San Suu Kyi, after a scheduled meeting on Wednesday failed to take place.
But analysts in neighbouring Thailand said the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been confined to her home for most of the last 19 years, could be refusing to meet him as a show of her frustration with the junta's failure to follow through on promised talks.
"She is somehow putting diplomatic pressure on Gambari. If Gambari cannot see Aung San Suu Kyi, his trip is meaningless," Myanmar analyst Win Min said.
Two UN officials spent 30 minutes in a car outside of Aung San Suu Kyi's house early yesterday, witnesses said.
The woman known here simply as The Lady did not appear to respond to them, they said.
Gambari's mission is meant to revive talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military, but the junta has shown no sign of willingness to embrace his mediation.
The generals have not even invited him to their remote capital in Naypyidaw.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta has never allowed them to take office.
However, DPA reported that Gambari, visited the compound of the detained opposition leader yesterday but she did not come out to greet him, witnesses said.
Gambari went to Suu Kyi's Yangon home at 7.30am (9.30am Brunei Time) and waited at the front gate for an hour but the Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not come out.
The road outside Suu Kyi's compound has been heavily barricaded since Thursday evening with four police officers posted outside its front gate.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003, being kept in near-isolation by the ruling junta, which recently extended her imprisonment, adding another six months to a year to it.
On Wednesday, a government car was seen entering Suu Kyi's compound, apparently to take her to meet Gambari, but she never got into the car.
Gambari met with executives of Suu Kyi's party and informed them that one of his priorities on this trip was to meet with Suu Kyi. Agencies
Five leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) met for 90 minutes with Gambari, following a 20-minute meeting on Wednesday, party spokesman Nyan Win told reporters.
He declined to reveal the substance of their discussions, saying only that they had agreed to talk again before Gambari's departure, which is now set for today.
"We haven't set a time, but we will meet again as soon as possible," he said.
So far, Gambari's only meetings with government officials have been at the ministerial level. Top junta officials have ignored him, just as they shunned the envoy during his last mission here in March.
Nyan Win said the party did not know why Gambari had not met with Aung San Suu Kyi, after a scheduled meeting on Wednesday failed to take place.
But analysts in neighbouring Thailand said the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been confined to her home for most of the last 19 years, could be refusing to meet him as a show of her frustration with the junta's failure to follow through on promised talks.
"She is somehow putting diplomatic pressure on Gambari. If Gambari cannot see Aung San Suu Kyi, his trip is meaningless," Myanmar analyst Win Min said.
Two UN officials spent 30 minutes in a car outside of Aung San Suu Kyi's house early yesterday, witnesses said.
The woman known here simply as The Lady did not appear to respond to them, they said.
Gambari's mission is meant to revive talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military, but the junta has shown no sign of willingness to embrace his mediation.
The generals have not even invited him to their remote capital in Naypyidaw.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta has never allowed them to take office.
However, DPA reported that Gambari, visited the compound of the detained opposition leader yesterday but she did not come out to greet him, witnesses said.
Gambari went to Suu Kyi's Yangon home at 7.30am (9.30am Brunei Time) and waited at the front gate for an hour but the Nobel Peace Prize laureate did not come out.
The road outside Suu Kyi's compound has been heavily barricaded since Thursday evening with four police officers posted outside its front gate.
Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003, being kept in near-isolation by the ruling junta, which recently extended her imprisonment, adding another six months to a year to it.
On Wednesday, a government car was seen entering Suu Kyi's compound, apparently to take her to meet Gambari, but she never got into the car.
Gambari met with executives of Suu Kyi's party and informed them that one of his priorities on this trip was to meet with Suu Kyi. Agencies
Business Besides Oil
