Ban fails to meet Suu Kyi

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon arrives in Myanmar

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s mission to Myanmar ended in failure on Friday, July3. The junta did not allow him to meet the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ban travelled to Naypyidaw, the ‘new capital’, to meet Senior General, Than Shwe. The General reportedly vetoed the  request for a meeting with Suu Kyi.

‘I told him that I wanted to meet her, but he told me that she is (on) trial,” Ban told reporters. The trail relates to a ‘visit’ by an American well-wisher, John Yettaw, who swam to her lakeside home in Yangon after he had a dream of her assassination. If Convicted, she faces five years in jail.

The UN SG promised to press the case for releasing Aung Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners in Myanmar.

‘I’m going to urge [them] to accelerate their political process and release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The genuine will of the Myanmar [Burma] people should be reflected’, he said.

Aung Suu Kyi has been mostly under house arrest since 1989 when her party, the National League for Democracy, won an overwhelming victory in the general election.

The Junta is planning its own elections next year under a new constitution.