UN's Myanmar envoy meets with pro-democracy leader

The Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Myanmar met today in Yangon with detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her party, the National League for Democracy.

The meeting between Ibrahim Gambari and Ms. Suu Kyi, which took place at the Sein Le Kantha State House, lasted for an hour and a half, according to UN officials.

A Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ms. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for over four years, and has spent more than 11 years in detention since the NLD and its allies won the 1990 election with over 80 per cent of the parliamentary seats.

Last month, the Myanmar authorities announced the holding of a constitutional referendum this May, to be followed by “multi-party democratic elections” in 2010.

Both Mr. Gambari and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have called on the authorities to make the political process inclusive, participatory and transparent, and stressed that the Government must begin a substantive dialogue with Ms. Suu Kyi and other parties relevant to the national reconciliation process.

On this the third day of his latest visit to the troubled South-East Asian nation, the Special Adviser also met separately with representatives of the NLD, the Pa-O National Organization, the National Unity Party and the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA).

This is his third visit to the country since the Government's crackdown on peaceful protesters last summer.