Suu Kyi expresses dissatisfaction over UN efforts in Myanmar

New York, Feb 3 : Myanmar's detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi has expressed dissatisfaction over UN's inability to prevail upon the ruling military junta to expedite democratic reforms in the country.

During an hour long meeting with a top UN official, Ibrahim Gambari, Suu Kyi said that despite his efforts he failed to get pro-democracy leaders released or even convince the junta to put the country on the path of democracy.

A spokesman for National League for Democracy (NLD) was quoted as saying, that 63-year-old, Suu Kyi is prepared to meet anyone but there has to be some outcome.

During Gambari's last visit also, Suu Kyi had expressed displeasure with the efforts of the UN official and refused to meet him. The military Junta had come to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who has spent 13 of last 19 years in detention, stressed that the talks should aim at achieving reforms which would lead to a democratic set up.

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon had visited Myanmar in May, after Cyclone Nargis struck the country.

The UN spokesperson would not go beyond confirming the meeting of Gambari who is visiting Myanmar as part of the mandate given to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon by the General Assembly to use his good office to bring about national reconciliation in the country.

He is expected to brief Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is on a visit to Pakistan and India. Gambari arrived in Yangon over the weekend for a four-day visit, his fifth in the past year and a half but has made little headway in getting a dialogue for reconciliation started and persuade the military government to move towards democracy.

Gambari also met with members of the Central executive committee of the NLD. He also separately met with representatives of the Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD)

NLD and its allies had won the 1990 election with over 80 percent of the Parliamentary seats but the military junta did not allow it take over the reins of the government.

Earlier, Gambari also conferred with the Tripartite Core Group – comprising Myanmar, the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – on humanitarian, recovery and reconstruction efforts in the wake of last May's devastating Cyclone Nargis, which claimed nearly 140,000 lives.

He has met with the so-called "Government Spokesperson Authoritative Team" composed of the Ministers of Information, Foreign Affairs, and Culture, as well as with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Planning, Health and Agriculture.

Last month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced his growing frustration that the UN's long-standing efforts to promote national reconciliation and democratisation in Myanmar. The UN efforts have yet to achieve the desired results.

Ban had urged the Myanmar government to release all political prisoners immediately and initiate "genuine dialogue" with the opposition.