UN rights envoy declines Myanmar offer to visit Shan state: ethnic group ( AFP ) Octobte 20. 2002


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UN rights envoy declines Myanmar offer to visit Shan state: ethnic group

YANGON, Oct 20 (AFP)

United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has declined an invitation by Myanmar to visit Shan state to investigate alleged human rights violations there, an ethnic party source said Sunday.

Pinheiro is in the midst of an 11-day fact-finding tour of the country and held talks Saturday with senior leaders of the ruling military junta as well as representatives of ethnic minority political parties, official sources said.

He was invited by the authorities to investigate a July report released by two Thai-based organisations representing the Shan ethnic minority which claimed the military used rape as a weapon of war.

An official schedule listed a three-day visit to Shan state beginning Tuesday.But Pinheiro, who was given an official report on Yangon's assessment of the rape allegations upon his arrival, has decided to forego the visit, according to Khun Tun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).

"He described the official report as sketchy," Khun Tun Oo told AFP, adding that Pinheiro had opted instead to conduct his independent investigations from inside Thailand, where most of the victims of alleged rape cases were said to be residing.Earlier, Shan groups had said they had little faith the military government would allow Pinheiro, on his third trip to Myanmar, to investigate the issue thoroughly.

"We told him there was hardly any change since he was here last and that there was still no political freedom as far as we were concerned," Khun Tun Oo said.

The SNLD was among six ethnic-based political parties who met with the Brazilian academic Saturday to brief him on the latest political developments as well as the issue of political prisoners languishing in jail.Khun Tun Oo, who said the meeting was positive, quoted Pinheiro as promising to "push for more freedom for political parties and the release of all political prisoners."

Meanwhile, Pinheiro on Sunday visited Insein prison in suburban Yangon, the first of several trips he is expected to make to jails throughout the country.He is also expected to meet with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before leaving Myanmar but no date has been set for the meeting.Pinheiro's visit comes as Yangon fends off mounting criticism of its human rights record.

In addition to the rape allegations, US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said last week it believed more than a fifth of the soldiers serving in Myanmar's army could be under the age of 18 and that some of them were forced to participate in atrocities.Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied all the allegations.

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