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Gambari Meets Suu Kyi
By The Irrawaddy and AP
November 8, 2007

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday—but there were signs his diplomatic mission to Burma had been a resounding little success.

Witnesses saw a convoy of three cars, the last filled with riot police, drive Suu Kyi from the residence where she is under house arrest to a nearby state guest house where she met Gambari twice before. After about an hour, Suu Kyi was driven home and Gambari headed to Rangoon airport. Details of their meeting were not immediately available.

In a statement on Thursday, the UN offered a positive outlook on the meeting: “We now have a process going which would lead to substantive dialogue between the Government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a key instrument in promoting national reconciliation in an all-inclusive manner. The sooner such a dialogue can start, the better for Myanmar [Burma].”

The statement went on to say that the UN would continue its engagement with all relevant parties— inside and outside Burma—to “achieve the goals which we all share: peace, prosperity, democracy and full respect for human rights in Myanmar [Burma].”

However, the absence of a meeting between Gambari and top leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe—and the Burmese regime’s rejection of a proposed three-way meeting involving Suu Kyi, a junta member and Gambari to promote reconciliation— suggested that Gambari's mission has accomplished little.

Meanwhile, three representatives of Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, held talks with Gambari for 45 minutes on Thursday in the new capital, Naypyidaw, according to one of the participants.

The three NLD representatives—Chairman Aung Shwe, Secretary U Lwin and Nyunt Wai—left Rangoon early morning Thursday for Naypyidaw and returned to Rangoon promptly after the discussions, said U Lwin.

U Lwin told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that the party would release a statement concerning the meeting. However, he declined to comment about the meeting at the time.

Gambari returned to Rangoon on Thursday after several days of talks in Naypyidaw with government officials and other parties, including executives of the National Unity Party—formerly the Burma Socialist Programme Party of late dictator Ne Win.

The UN envoy, sent to Burma after the UN Security Council condemned a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in September, met with recently appointed Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein, the UN said in a statement released on Wednesday from Rangoon.

The statement said Gambari had delivered a letter from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed to junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe—who had refused to receive Gambari.

The statement gave no details of the letter.

The UN's Wednesday statement said Gambari suggested to Thein Sein specific steps to satisfy international concerns about Burma's political deadlock, which began with the military's failure to hand over power to Suu Kyi's NLD party after it won the 1990 general election.

"These [steps] include the need for dialogue with the opposition without delay as part of an inclusive national reconciliation process, as well as necessary confidence-building measures in the humanitarian and socio-economic areas, including the establishment of a broad-based poverty alleviation commission," the UN statement said.

Gambari also stressed that a return to the status quo before the crisis would not be sustainable, and suggested specific steps for Burma to meet international expectations in this regard, the statement said.

The UN statement said Thein Sein reiterated his government's support for Gambari's efforts and invited him to return to Burma.

The junta is expected to host the UN's special investigator for human rights in Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who has been invited for five-day visit starting Sunday.