UN envoy in Myanmar, wants to meet Suu Kyi

A top United Nations envoy was due to arrive in military-ruled Myanmar on Monday following the release from detention of the still-defiant deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi’s pro-democracy party. Envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana has requested a meeting with the Nobel Prize winner Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, and will evaluate progress on human rights in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Criticized by the international community for its human rights abuses, the regime on Saturday released 82-year-old Tin Oo, who helped found the National League for Democracy with Suu Kyi, after nearly seven years of prison and house arrest.

“I am not happy with my freedom. I am very sorry about my colleagues who are still serving time in prisons,’’ Tin Oo told reporters Sunday while praying for their early release at Yangon’s Shwedagon Pagoda. Human rights groups say the junta holds some 2,100 political prisoners. Tin Oo, a one-time defense minister, said he would continue to work for democracy, serving as vice chairman of the league and coordinating political activities with Suu Kyi and the party’s20-member Central Executive Committee. League spokesman Nyan Win said the party welcomed the UN envoy’s visit since gross human rights violations were continuing. “His visit won’t be able to totally address the human rights issue but the visit can certainly cover human rights abuses,’’ Nyan Win said.

Quintana is expected to meet several key ministers and members of the opposition during his five-day visit beginning Feb 15. He is also to tour Yangon’s notorious Insein prison and another prison in the northwestern state of Rakhine. In a statement, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Tin Oo’s release and said he hoped it would promote “substantive dialogue’’ between the league and the government. He also urged the lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi ``without further delay’’ and the release of other political prisoners.

- Asian Tribune -