AFP: UN chief slams Myanmar junta on rights ahead of election

UN chief slams Myanmar junta on rights ahead of election

(AFP) – Oct 15, 2010

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday expressed "grave concern" at the Myanmar junta's refusal to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of a November election.

The UN chief accused the junta of being "slow and incomplete" in meeting political commitments and said its refusal to hold talks with the international community was "deeply frustrating".

In a report on human rights in Myanmar, Ban made repeated calls for the military government to free Aung San Suu Kyi if it wanted the November 7 election to have any international credibility.

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past two decades under house arrest. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the last election in 1990 but she was never allowed to take power. The junta has banned the NLD from taking part in this vote.

The UN leader said that since he visited Myanmar in July 2009, the government has shown "some signs of flexibility" with acts such as releasing more than 130 political prisoners in September last year.

"However, the detention of other political prisoners and the continued house arrest of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remain of grave concern," he said in the report.

He called for "respect for the fundamental freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association for all citizens, including engagement in political debate and access to the media."

He added: "Failure to fulfil these responsibilities could seriously undermine the credibility of the elections."

The UN has been trying to engage the Myanmar government by arranging a visit to the country for Ban's special envoy, Vijay Nambiar.

But diplomatic sources said Myanmar had only agreed to invite Nambiar after the election and this was turned down by the UN leadership.

Ban said Myanmar has not invited his chief of staff. He described the junta's attitude as "deeply frustrating" and "a lost opportunity for Myanmar."

He called for other countries, particularly Myanmar's neighbours, to apply more pressure and said that contacts with opposition groups and the government were continuing outside the country.

Ban said that deadlocked negotiations between the government and "key armed ethnic ceasefire groups" was also a concern.

The UN chief warned that the November 7 elections "present a major test of the prospects of peace, democracy and prosperity in the country."

The junta has banned 10 parties, including the NLD, from contesting the election but 42 parties have been registered.

Ban said: "It is all the more necessary for the authorities to ensure that the elections are conducted in an inclusive, credible, participatory and transparent manner.

"In this regard, I reiterate my call for the release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, as the clearest signal of such commitments."

He added that "failure to seize this opportunity could undermine the credibility of the process, efforts to advance national reconciliation and the prospects of needed reforms in the political, social and economic fields."

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