Razali start holding talks with General Khin Nyunt and Suu Kyi ( Reuters ) November 12, 2002


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Razali start holding talks with General Khin Nyunt and Suu Kyi

Rangoon (Reuters)

A United Nations envoy met a top Burmese general and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday after saying he might resign if the ruling military junta failed to soon take steps towards democracy.

Razali Ismail arrived at the start of a five-day visit amid mounting pressure from the outside world on the military, which has ruled Burma for four decades, to open talks with Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader Suu Kyi.

Razali held separate meetings with the junta's powerful intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide but has been denied power by the armed forces.

The veteran Malaysian diplomat, on his ninth visit to the impoverished southeast Asian country, has made no public comments, but told Reuters in Kuala Lumpur before boarding the flight to Burma that he wanted to see some progress to be able to carry on mediating.

"In my mind, I do not want to be the special envoy that wanders around for 15 years doing things with no light at the end of the tunnel," Razali said.

But he said his comments should not be seen as an ultimatum.

The junta has repeatedly said it is moving toward democracy but that too speedy a transition would destabilise the country.

Suu Kyi was released from house arrest after 19 months in May, sparking hopes a breakthrough was imminent.

But the junta has never moved beyond tentative gestures, such as the release of Suu Kyi and some 600 political prisoners.

The European Union issued a statement in Rangoon on Tuesday urging the junta to take advantage of Razali's latest visit by opening substantive political dialogue with the opposition.

Washington also called on Burma's generals last week to take steps toward democracy, including the release of more than 1,000 political prisoners still languishing in Burma's jails.

WANING CONFIDENCE

Diplomats say Razali needs a breakthrough to salvage what little confidence the international community has left in his efforts to prod the junta toward democracy.

Suu Kyi has called repeatedly for substantive face-to-face talks with the junta on the political future of Burma, crippled by Western economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

After his last visit to Burma in August, Razali expressed high hopes talks would start "very soon".

On Tuesday he clarified those comments, saying he had been led to believe the junta would initiate talks in a few weeks.

Razali, who answers to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said there was clamour for progress.

The United Nations, in a statement released in Rangoon late on Monday, said Annan feared early hopes of a breakthrough after Suu Kyi's release from house arrest were fading.

It said Razali had requested meetings with the junta's top three leaders -- Senior General Than Shwe, junta vice-chairman General Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt.

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