UN diplomat sees door opening for talks in Myanmar
Envoy checks on opposition leader

By Ellen Nakashima and Alan Sipress
The Washington Post
Published June 14, 2003

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- UN Special Envoy Razali Ismail said Friday that he believed further mediation coupled with international pressure could win release of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and lead to a political settlement between the opponents and the Myanmar government.

Razali, the first foreigner to see Suu Kyi after a brutal crackdown on her pro-democracy movement two weeks ago, said divisions within the government offer hope that the two sides could resume talks.


"My job is to use this [division] to try to pry open the door as widely as I can," he said. "We have to begin to talk to the people who are pragmatists to see what can be done quickly."

He said that the government's decision to let him meet Suu Kyi for 30 minutes Tuesday, after initially refusing his request, reflects a willingness by some in the military to compromise.

Razali said he was pleased that he was able to visit Suu Kyi and determine that she was not harmed when a government-backed militia attacked her motorcade May 30 as she was touring northern Myanmar. But he fell short of two other goals: to win her release and start negotiations between the State Peace and Development Council and her National League for Democracy movement, which won a parliamentary election in 1990 in a landslide and was then denied power by the junta.

"I am quite troubled by my visit this time," he said.

Razali, a Malaysian diplomat, has been leading international efforts for three years to find a solution to Myanmar's political standoff and end the country's long international isolation.

A deal brokered by Razali in May 2002 freed Suu Kyi, 57, a Nobel peace laureate who had served 19 months under house arrest.

His visit with Suu Kyi this week, which came in the final hours of a five-day trip to Myanmar, was held in a modest house in a militarized area in Yangon. Razali said Suu Kyi, the daughter of Gen. Aung San, Myanmar's founding father, wore a blue sarong and jacket and looked "bedraggled."

Although the meeting was held in the presence of a military general, the escort, far from inhibiting the conversation, was "cowed" by Suu Kyi, Razali said.

Describing her detention on May 30, Suu Kyi said her convoy of supporters was stopped just outside the town of Dipeyin. She told him she heard a "commotion" from behind.

"They tried to smash the windows of her car. She was protected by her people," Razali said of the events.

Source : Chicago Tribune