潘基文：聯合國繼續要求緬甸釋放翁山蘇姬　
（中央社記者林憬屏曼谷5日專電）聯合國秘書長潘基文這次訪問緬甸未能與民主領袖翁山蘇姬會面，他昨夜在曼谷簡短的記者會說，他向軍政府提出的建議，包括釋放翁山蘇姬等，聯合國會繼續追蹤進程。

　　潘基文（Ban Ki Moon）7月3日至4日訪問緬甸，從曼谷蘇凡納布國際機場（Suvarnabhumi airport）轉機飛往紐約前，在機場與泰國總理艾比希會面，並與媒體簡短說明訪緬的結果。

潘基文與緬甸總理丹瑞（Than Shwe）會面，但提出與翁山蘇姬（Aung San Suu Kyi）會面的要求遭婉拒，潘基文再次強調，緬甸錯失機會展現政治開放的新階段，但他也傳達國際社會對緬甸政府的關切...

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=994921&lang=tc_news&c...

UN chief rebukes Burma over Suu Kyi
By Amy Kazmin in New Delhi

Published: July 4 2009 15:20 | Last updated: July 5 2009 07:47

Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary general, publicly criticised Burma’s military rulers this weekend after the country’s powerful army chief rebuffed his plea to meet jailed democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi during a two-day visit.

In a rare critical public speech to 500 state officials, diplomats and opposition politicians at Rangoon’s Drug Elimination Museum, Mr Ban said the military junta had “missed a very important opportunity” as it prepares for controversial parliamentary elections next year.

Suu Kyi would have been an important symbol of the government’s willingness to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections in 2010 are to be seen as credible,” the UN chief told his audience. “I am deeply disappointed.”

Earlier, Mr Ban told reporters that his inability to see the Nobel laureate, whose National League for Democracy won a sweeping election victory in 1990 but was never permitted to govern, was “a setback to the international community’s efforts to provide a helping hand to Myanmar [Burma] at this time.”

The New Light of Myanmar, an English-language state newspaper, said Sunday that Mr Ban’s representative had been informed ahead of the visit that he would not be permitted to meet Ms Suu Kyi due to her ongoing criminal trial.

Ms Suu Kyi is in Rangoon’s notorious Insein prison on trial for violating the terms of her house arrest, following a bizarre incident in which an American sneaked into her bungalow.

A group of Rangoon-based diplomats were permitted to meet her in Insein a few weeks ago amid an international surge of concern about her well being.

Human rights groups say that the army chief’s rebuff to Mr Ban – the culmination of more than 14 years of failed UN efforts to cajole Burma’s political masters into talks with their most high-profile critic – reflects the regime’s contempt for the UN and its agenda.

“None of it was a surprise; his disappointment was almost a foregone conclusion,” said David Mathieson, a Burma research for Human Rights Watch. “It’s them saying, ‘We are going ahead with what we want to do and we don’t care what you think about it. The idea that you can come here and fix everything the west wants – forget it.’”

The New Light of Myanmar said the government was trying to cooperate with the UN and described Mr Ban as supportive of the junta’s own controversial political reform process, which critics see as a little more than as putting a civilian facade over on-going military rule.

After years of resisting western pressure to enter a political dialogue with Ms Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 19 years, the junta is proceeding with its own plans to establish what it calls a ‘disciplined democracy,’ with a parliament that has 25 per cent of the seats reserved for military appointees.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a23168a-68a5-11de-a472-00144feabdc0.html