Annan dispatches envoy back to Myanmar in hopes of spurring national reconciliation

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, will send his Special Envoy to Myanmar early next month in a bid to help facilitate the country's national reconciliation process, a UN spokesman announced today.

Razali Ismail will travel to Yangon from 2 to 6 August to meet with leaders of the Government, senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and some leaders of various ethnic nationalities, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

"The Secretary-General hopes that Mr. Razali's mission, the first since political freedom was restored to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in May, will provide the process with an added momentum so that the two sides can start their substantive dialogue in the near future," Mr. Eckhard told the press in New York.

Since being appointed Special Envoy in April 2000, Mr. Razali's has visited Myanmar seven times.