UN rights envoy to Myanmar meets with military, opposition members ( AFP ) October 25, 2002


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UN rights envoy to Myanmar meets with military, opposition members

YANGON, Oct 25 (AFP)

UN human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met with a regional military commander and opposition party members in southern Mon state Friday as his fact-finding mission here continued.

The envoy spent Friday in the Mon state capital Mawlamyine, 280 miles (450 kilometres) south of Yangon, where according to local officials he held talks with the commander of the southeast military division, Brigadier-General Thura Myint Aung.He also visited the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters where he met with with party members, the officials said.

Pinheiro is on an 11-day visit here assessing the human rights situation.He has held talks with top guns in the ruling junta including military intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung, and has also met with NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

After their Tuesday meeting Pinheiro said prospects for the dialogue between the Nobel peace laureate and the junta on national reconciliation were good. The talks have been running since October 2000, but are widely believed to have stalled.

While in Karen state, Pineheiro met with Christian and Buddhist leaders in Kyar-inn-seikkyi and travelled to Tha- ma-nya-sayadaw, where he called on a highly-revered Buddhist monk of the same name.

During his remaining time in Myanmar, the Brazilian academic is expected to visit at least one other jail.He has already visited Yangon's notorious Insein prison and met with several prisoners, whom he said complained about their treatment.International concern has been raised over elderly and sick prisoners failing to receive appropriate medical treatment while in the impoverished country's jails.

The junta originally invited Pinheiro to travel to northeastern Shan state during his visit here to investigate a report by two Shan women's groups based in Thailand who alleged that the military used rape as a weapon of war.But Pinheiro cancelled the planned three-day trip, saying it was not possible to do enough fact-finding within the short period.Pinheiro is due to leave Myanmar on October 28.

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