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UN chief calls for Burma releases

Other News Materials 3 July 2009 17:45 (UTC +04:00)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Burma's military junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, BBC reported.

Mr Ban made the request during talks with Gen Than Shwe in the remote administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw.

He also asked to be able to visit Ms Suu Kyi in jail in person, but said he had not yet been given permission.

Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, has spent much of the past two decades in prison or under house arrest.

Her trial on charges of breaking the terms of her house arrest, has been adjourned for another week.

Mr Ban said he had "a very frank and extensive exchange of views on all the matters of the spectrum of issues pertaining to Myanmar [Burma]," with Gen Than Shwe, the country's top military leader.

"I proposed and I urged that all political prisoners should be released before this election begins, so that this election can be all inclusive," the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Mr Ban said he had also asked Gen Than Shwe whether he could see Ms Suu Kyi in person before he left Burma.

"He told me that she is on trial but I told him this is my proposal, this is important and I am waiting for their consideration and reply," said Mr Ban.

Earlier, Mr Ban had said in his opening statement to the junta leader: "I appreciate your commitment to move your country forward... I would like to contribute, to work together, for peace and prosperity," reported AFP news agency.

In Ms Suu Kyi's legal case, her lawyers have been appealing against the judge's ban on testimony from three defence witnesses. One additional defence witness will be allowed to testify.

"The Supreme Court did not send the case files to the lower court, so the case has been adjourned until July 10," said her lawyer, Nyan Win. He added Ms Suu Kyi had expressed surprise at the further delay.

The trial of 64-year-old Ms Suu Kyi has caused outrage around the world.

Critics of Burma's military government have dismissed it as a ruse to keep the opposition leader locked up until after next year's election.

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan, in Nay Pyi Taw, says Mr Ban is thought to believe he has a rapport with Gen Than Shwe.

The government called national polls in May 1990 which Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won convincingly, but the junta refused to hand over control, and has remained in power ever since.

The BBC's Jonathan Head says the failure of many previous UN missions to Burma has at least lowered expectations of this one.

But Mr Ban needs to come away with something more than a few token prisoner releases if he is to avoid charges that his visit is merely being used by Burma's military rulers to boost their legitimacy, our correspondent says.

Mr Ban has previously called for the immediate release of all Burma's political prisoners, thought to number about 2,100.

"Through my meetings... I will convey exactly what the international community expects and wishes [regarding] the way they want to see changes in Myanmar," he told reporters in Singapore before his departure.

If Mr Ban is eventually allowed to meet Ms Suu Kyi, he would be the first UN secretary general to do so.

This is Mr Ban's first visit to Burma since he persuaded the junta in May 2008 to accept international aid in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which killed nearly 140,000 people.

Critics say there is little sign that the UN has wrung any other concessions from the regime.

But some analysts speculate that Mr Ban may have been given an indication by the generals that the visit could harbour some kind of positive result.

Mr Ban is due to meet members of her NLD and other opposition activists.

Our correspondent says Mr Ban will try to persuade the reclusive general to re-start a dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi, a woman the leader is said to fear and dislike.

Ms Suu Kyi was transferred from house arrest to prison in May after an American man swam to her lakeside house. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

Human Rights Watch said Mr Ban should not accept the return of Ms Suu Kyi to house arrest as a sign of a successful visit.

"Time and again, the UN has politely requested Aung San Suu Kyi's release, but her 'release' back to house arrest would be a huge failure," said executive director Kenneth Roth.

The NLD leader led a revolt against Burmese dictator Gen Ne Win in 1988, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections.

But her movement was brutally suppressed by the army, which seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988.

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