(AP: United Nations, October 1, 2003)

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the United Nations and the international community to work together to bring about a transition to democracy in Myanmar by 2006.

In a report to the UN General Assembly yesterday, he said there has been "no substantive progress towards national reconciliation and democratization in Myanmar," but "there is still a small window of opportunity at the present moment to save the process."

He urged the military rulers to immediately release the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy colleagues and quickly initiate a "substantive dialogue" with them.

Otherwise, Annan said, the UN General Assembly will have to review the situation and decide on further action that the United Nations and the 190 other UN member states can take to promote reconciliation and democratization in the country.

The target, he said, should be a democratic Myanmar by the time the country takes over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2006.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"The United Nations, ASEAN and the international community at large must join hands in order to facilitate the democratic transition in Myanmar in time for 2006," Annan said.