YANGON — A top UN envoy will this week become the first senior official from the world body to visit Myanmar since the dissolution of the junta and the appointment of a nominally civilian government.
Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, was expected to hold talks with government members, while opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi also planned to meet the envoy, her party spokesman said.
Nambiar met Suu Kyi shortly after her release from house arrest on a visit in November, during which he also urged the government to address concerns over the election that month, which was widely dismissed as a sham.
"Mr Nambiar will come to Myanmar this week. He's likely to meet with government officials and the opposition as well as with political parties," a Myanmar official told AFP Tuesday, declining to be named.
Official sources in Naypyidaw said new President Thein Sein was not scheduled to meet Nambiar, but foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin would meet him on Wednesday in the capital.
The envoy was set to meet some political parties in Yangon on Friday, including the National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakaway party from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
"Our party chairman Dr Than Nyein will go there. We have no idea yet what we have to discuss," said Khin Maung Swe, an NDF leader.
The UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, last visited the country in February 2010, when he was not allowed to meet Suu Kyi, and his requests to go there since have been rejected by authorities.
The following month he called for an investigation into whether the regime was guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
UN chief Ban last visited in July 2009, when he met then-junta chief Than Shwe but was also brazenly snubbed in his attempts to visit the detained Suu Kyi.
Myanmar's junta, the State Peace and Development Council, was disbanded at the end of March following the November polls, which were marred by the absence of Suu Kyi and complaints of cheating and intimidation.
The NLD won the previous vote in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gucvKlrJ-KeClIj3wArCEP2piwmg?docId=CNG.6ddcbc57a3d9d10ad0e2f7b757e9b37a.3d1
Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, was expected to hold talks with government members, while opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi also planned to meet the envoy, her party spokesman said.
Nambiar met Suu Kyi shortly after her release from house arrest on a visit in November, during which he also urged the government to address concerns over the election that month, which was widely dismissed as a sham.
"Mr Nambiar will come to Myanmar this week. He's likely to meet with government officials and the opposition as well as with political parties," a Myanmar official told AFP Tuesday, declining to be named.
Official sources in Naypyidaw said new President Thein Sein was not scheduled to meet Nambiar, but foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin would meet him on Wednesday in the capital.
The envoy was set to meet some political parties in Yangon on Friday, including the National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakaway party from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).
"Our party chairman Dr Than Nyein will go there. We have no idea yet what we have to discuss," said Khin Maung Swe, an NDF leader.
The UN's special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, last visited the country in February 2010, when he was not allowed to meet Suu Kyi, and his requests to go there since have been rejected by authorities.
The following month he called for an investigation into whether the regime was guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
UN chief Ban last visited in July 2009, when he met then-junta chief Than Shwe but was also brazenly snubbed in his attempts to visit the detained Suu Kyi.
Myanmar's junta, the State Peace and Development Council, was disbanded at the end of March following the November polls, which were marred by the absence of Suu Kyi and complaints of cheating and intimidation.
The NLD won the previous vote in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gucvKlrJ-KeClIj3wArCEP2piwmg?docId=CNG.6ddcbc57a3d9d10ad0e2f7b757e9b37a.3d1
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