Myanmar’s seven-step peace process not inclusive, lacks timeline – Annan

The Government of Myanmar’s proposed seven-step road map to democracy does not include the opinions expressed by several parties in the country and has not shown that the process will be participatory and transparent, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a human rights report.

“The efforts of the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy to persuade the Government to agree to include the NLD (National League for Democracy), other political parties and representatives of all Myanmar’s ethnic nationalities in the earliest stages of the road map process and to set a time line for the map’s implementation have not borne fruit,” says the report, an update of an earlier submission to the General Assembly.

The Secretary-General believes that mass rallies are no substitute for the active participation of political parties in the process of democratization and national reconciliation, it says.

Mr. Annan appeals once again to the Prime Minister, General Khin Nyunt, and other government leaders to lift remaining restrictions on the NLD leaders, including Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and others detained on or after 30 May, the report says.