Annan Warms To Burmese Despite Kyi
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Annan vowed yesterday to deepen the “communication” with Burma’s dictatorial regime even as it announced – shortly after a rare Rangoon visit by a U.N. official – that it would keep opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi captive for an indefinite period.
“I am disappointed” that Burma’s government “did not decide to release her,” Mr. Annan told reporters yesterday, referring to the decision over the weekend to keep the 60-year old Nobel Peace Prize laureate in jail for at least another year.
The Rangoon decision was announced several days after Mr. Annan’s envoy, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari, told reporters he believed the junta was ready to turn a new page in its relations with the world, and after the regime granted Mr. Gambari a rare visit with Ms. Suu Kyi.
“Obviously, lines of communication have now been opened with [Rangoon] following Mr. Gambari’s visit, and we hope to exploit those lines to move the process forward,” a spokesman for Mr. Annan, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters yesterday. Mr. Gambari, who once represented the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha at the United Nations, has yet to brief Mr. Annan on his meetings in Burma.
After briefing Mr. Annan, Mr. Gambari will brief the Security Council, at the request of the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. A State Department official said yesterday that further council action is planned to follow up on Mr. Gambari’s report. China, Russia, and Japan have opposed any council intervention in the humanitarian crisis in Burma, but last week they did not object to hearing Mr. Gambari’s report.
Ms. Suu Kyi has been jailed since the election victory of her party, the National League for Democracy, in 1990. Before the regime’s announcement on Ms. Suu Kyi, Mr. Gambari said he hoped Rangoon’s decision to allow him to visit her signaled new openness.
But yesterday Mr. Annan said keeping Ms. Suu Kyi in prison shows the junta “missed a significant opportunity” to act on promises it gave Mr. Gambari for “national reconciliation and all-inclusive democracy, as well as improved relations with the international community.”
