KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar says relations between the military regime and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi are improving, but the junta has yet to decide whether to free her from house arrest.
| "Things are getting better. Slowly. You know." |
Razali Ismail, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative, said on his return from a four-day visit to Myanmar that Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt appears committed to allowing democracy after a 42-year absence, but needs more power to push it through. "I am convinced that the prime minister wants to move the process forward all the way to democracy," Razali told reporters. "He needs to be given a full mandate and full power to do this." He declined to say directly whether Khin Nyunt currently had enough clout to negotiate Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, saying that issue "must be determined within the ... power arrangement" of the junta.
Khin Nyunt, a former intelligence chief, was appointed prime minister last August in a restructuring of the government and is seen as somewhat of a moderate. But he still answers to Senior Gen. Than Shwe, chief of the junta.
The trip produced "good, useful work" toward implementing Khin Nyunt's "road map" to democracy - a plan supposed to lead to democratic elections on an unspecified timetable, Razali said. "But the first thing they have to do is get her released and allow her party" to operate again, Razali said.
| That would be a first step, eh? |
|