Gambari to Arrive in Burma on Saturday;
Will Meet with "All Parties"
By Lalit K Jha/United Nations November 1, 2007
Special UN Envoy on Burma Ibrahim Gambari will arrive in Burma on Saturday to meet with top junta leaders and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in an effort to open a path to reconciliation between the military-led government and pro-democracy groups.
[Photo: AP]Gambari is scheduled to stay through Thursday. However, before he arrives in Burma, he will meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Istanbul on Friday.
“During his forthcoming visit to Myanmar, Gambari will follow up on his offer to facilitate implementation of the recommendations made to the government during his last mission, including immediate steps to address the human rights concerns in the wake of the recent crisis and a framework for meaningful and time-bound dialogue between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi as a necessary part of an inclusive national reconciliation process,” said the secretary-general’s spokesperson, Michele Montas.
Montas said Gambari will also follow up on implementation of confidence-building measures, including a proposal to create a constitutional review mechanism and a poverty alleviation commission.
“Gambari will consult with a broad range of representatives of Myanmar society, including all the groups which he was not able to see last time,” Montas said.
Critics are highly skeptical of the success of Gambari’s second visit to Burma in a month. The trip follows nearly a week of consultations with some of the key players in the region. Beginning in mid-October, Gambari visited, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, New Delhi, Beijing and Tokyo, where he met with leaders to discuss the Burma issue.
Gambari visited Burma in the first week of October, during which he met junta officials and met twice with Aung San Suu Kyi. However, he did not meet with other leaders of pro-democracy groups or with leaders of ethnic political parties.
US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, urged the Burmese government to cooperate with Gambari during his visit to the country.
In a statement, Khalilzad said the 45-year-old military dictatorship has curtailed basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship.
Before the recent crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, there were an estimated 1,200 political prisoners in Burma's prisons, he said. Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose political party was elected by an overwhelming majority in 1990, has been under house arrest for more than a decade. The election was nullified by the junta.
According to the military government, the latest crackdown resulted in ten deaths and the imprisonment of about 4,000 people, Khalilzad said.
“However, non-official sources estimate the numbers killed, injured and imprisoned to be much higher. Despite recent releases, the government continues to arrest and detain more activists,” Khalilzad said.
Angry Junta Protest Raises Tension with UN
By Jim Andrews November 1, 2007
Tension is rising between the Burmese junta and UN officials concerned with the Burma crisis, ahead of the latest visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari.
As Gambari prepared to undertake another attempt to persuade the junta to move towards democracy, the Burmese Foreign Ministry issued an angry reaction to a UN Day statement on Burma, saying it harmed Burma’s image “despite its all-out cooperation with [the] UN.”
The statement, issued by the UN country team in Rangoon, declared that the concerns of the Burmese people had been “clearly expressed through the recent peaceful demonstrations, and it is beholden on all to listen.”
The demonstrations had highlighted that many of the Burmese people’s aspirations—“development, prosperity, peace, security and dignity for all”—were not yet “a reality for all.”
The September events, the statement said, had “clearly demonstrated the everyday struggle to meet basic needs, and the urgent necessity to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.”
The UN statement followed one issued jointly by more than a dozen international humanitarian organizations urging “all parties to increase their efforts to address the underlying causes of the current situation.”
Referring to these “underlying causes,” the UN statement said that “while acknowledging the efforts made by the government of Myanmar [Burma] to build schools, clinics, hospitals and roads, the UN system in Myanmar [Burma] nevertheless sees every day that in this potentially prosperous country basic human needs are not being met.
“Today, Myanmar’s [Burma’] estimated per capita GDP is less than half that of Cambodia or Bangladesh. The average household is forced to spend almost three quarters of its budget on food. One in three children under five are suffering from malnutrition, and less than 50 percent of children are able to complete their primary education.
“It is estimated that close to 700,000 people each year suffer from malaria, and 130,000 from tuberculosis. Among those infected with HIV, an estimated 60,000 people needing anti-retrovirals do not yet have access to this life-saving treatment.”
The UN statement stung Burma’s Foreign Ministry into issuing a “strong protest,” complaining that it was “very negative [and] deliberately ignores the successful conclusion of the National Convention which has adopted basic principles for the new constitution as well as the economic development and the gains made in various sectors, such as education, health, transportation etc.”
These gains would be greater were it not for the sanctions levied against Burma, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Ministry said it had been “disappointed” by the decision to issue the statement, which had “jeopardized the good working relations existing between the Ministry and the Country Team [the UN representation in Burma.]”
The Ministry demarche made no mention of the upcoming visit by Gambari, expected to begin within the next few days.
Will Meet with "All Parties"
By Lalit K Jha/United Nations November 1, 2007
Special UN Envoy on Burma Ibrahim Gambari will arrive in Burma on Saturday to meet with top junta leaders and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in an effort to open a path to reconciliation between the military-led government and pro-democracy groups.
[Photo: AP]Gambari is scheduled to stay through Thursday. However, before he arrives in Burma, he will meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Istanbul on Friday.
“During his forthcoming visit to Myanmar, Gambari will follow up on his offer to facilitate implementation of the recommendations made to the government during his last mission, including immediate steps to address the human rights concerns in the wake of the recent crisis and a framework for meaningful and time-bound dialogue between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi as a necessary part of an inclusive national reconciliation process,” said the secretary-general’s spokesperson, Michele Montas.
Montas said Gambari will also follow up on implementation of confidence-building measures, including a proposal to create a constitutional review mechanism and a poverty alleviation commission.
“Gambari will consult with a broad range of representatives of Myanmar society, including all the groups which he was not able to see last time,” Montas said.
Critics are highly skeptical of the success of Gambari’s second visit to Burma in a month. The trip follows nearly a week of consultations with some of the key players in the region. Beginning in mid-October, Gambari visited, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, New Delhi, Beijing and Tokyo, where he met with leaders to discuss the Burma issue.
Gambari visited Burma in the first week of October, during which he met junta officials and met twice with Aung San Suu Kyi. However, he did not meet with other leaders of pro-democracy groups or with leaders of ethnic political parties.
US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, urged the Burmese government to cooperate with Gambari during his visit to the country.
In a statement, Khalilzad said the 45-year-old military dictatorship has curtailed basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship.
Before the recent crackdown against peaceful demonstrators, there were an estimated 1,200 political prisoners in Burma's prisons, he said. Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose political party was elected by an overwhelming majority in 1990, has been under house arrest for more than a decade. The election was nullified by the junta.
According to the military government, the latest crackdown resulted in ten deaths and the imprisonment of about 4,000 people, Khalilzad said.
“However, non-official sources estimate the numbers killed, injured and imprisoned to be much higher. Despite recent releases, the government continues to arrest and detain more activists,” Khalilzad said.
Angry Junta Protest Raises Tension with UN
By Jim Andrews November 1, 2007
Tension is rising between the Burmese junta and UN officials concerned with the Burma crisis, ahead of the latest visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari.
As Gambari prepared to undertake another attempt to persuade the junta to move towards democracy, the Burmese Foreign Ministry issued an angry reaction to a UN Day statement on Burma, saying it harmed Burma’s image “despite its all-out cooperation with [the] UN.”
The statement, issued by the UN country team in Rangoon, declared that the concerns of the Burmese people had been “clearly expressed through the recent peaceful demonstrations, and it is beholden on all to listen.”
The demonstrations had highlighted that many of the Burmese people’s aspirations—“development, prosperity, peace, security and dignity for all”—were not yet “a reality for all.”
The September events, the statement said, had “clearly demonstrated the everyday struggle to meet basic needs, and the urgent necessity to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country.”
The UN statement followed one issued jointly by more than a dozen international humanitarian organizations urging “all parties to increase their efforts to address the underlying causes of the current situation.”
Referring to these “underlying causes,” the UN statement said that “while acknowledging the efforts made by the government of Myanmar [Burma] to build schools, clinics, hospitals and roads, the UN system in Myanmar [Burma] nevertheless sees every day that in this potentially prosperous country basic human needs are not being met.
“Today, Myanmar’s [Burma’] estimated per capita GDP is less than half that of Cambodia or Bangladesh. The average household is forced to spend almost three quarters of its budget on food. One in three children under five are suffering from malnutrition, and less than 50 percent of children are able to complete their primary education.
“It is estimated that close to 700,000 people each year suffer from malaria, and 130,000 from tuberculosis. Among those infected with HIV, an estimated 60,000 people needing anti-retrovirals do not yet have access to this life-saving treatment.”
The UN statement stung Burma’s Foreign Ministry into issuing a “strong protest,” complaining that it was “very negative [and] deliberately ignores the successful conclusion of the National Convention which has adopted basic principles for the new constitution as well as the economic development and the gains made in various sectors, such as education, health, transportation etc.”
These gains would be greater were it not for the sanctions levied against Burma, the Foreign Ministry said.
The Ministry said it had been “disappointed” by the decision to issue the statement, which had “jeopardized the good working relations existing between the Ministry and the Country Team [the UN representation in Burma.]”
The Ministry demarche made no mention of the upcoming visit by Gambari, expected to begin within the next few days.
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