U.N. Envoy to Myanmar Calls Junta Responsive

By WARREN HOGE

Published: November 14, 2007

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 13 — The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar said Tuesday that the situation there was “qualitatively different” from the way it was in the aftermath of September’s brutal crackdown on protesters, but that the authorities had still showed no willingness to free the pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Itsuo Inouye/Associated Press

Ibrahim Gambari said conditions in Myanmar had improved since September.

Reporting to the Security Council on his visit to Myanmar last week, the official, Ibrahim Gambari, said curfews had been lifted, the military had left the streets and most of the 2,700 people the government said it had detained had been released.

“On balance, the positive outcomes of this latest mission show that the government of Myanmar, while stressing its sovereignty and independence, can be responsive to the concerns of the international community,” he said.

Mr. Gambari, who has visited Myanmar twice in two months, said the ruling generals assured him that he could return “in their words, again and again and again.”

But while he noted that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi had been allowed to make a public statement for the first time in four years and to meet with members of her political party, the military was still unwilling to end her house arrest.

“I have stressed to the government that the best way to make real their commitment to dialogue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is to release her without delay,” he said.

He said the military had told him it had stopped detaining people, but John Sawers, the British ambassador, noted that Su Su Nway, an activist who has worked to rid Myanmar of forced labor, had just been detained. He said the act “raises question marks over the commitments given to Professor Gambari that arrests have ceased.”

He added, “The small steps forward described by Professor Gambari today are welcome and could be the beginning of a process that achieves peace, prosperity and stability, but it could also be a false dawn.”

Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador, warned that the Myanmar authorities should not use the process of talks and invitations to Mr. Gambari as a substitute for substantive progress on ending military repression and moving the country toward democracy. “A process for process’s sake will not be acceptable,” he said.

Comments from the ambassadors exposed a familiar pattern of responses from the Council’s five permanent members, with Britain, France and the United States pushing for speedier action and China and Russia cautioning against it.

“We are convinced that threats, pressure and sanctions exerted from the outside are counterproductive,” said Vitaly I. Churkin, the Russian ambassador.

Wang Guangya, China’s ambassador, said the process should remain “incremental” and warned: “Sanctions will not help resolve the issue, but further complicate the situation. Sanctions will undermine the dialogue that is starting.”

Kyaw Tint Swe, the Myanmar ambassador, told the Council that the 91 people who remained in custody were not political demonstrators but people “who have been found to be involved in unlawful activities, including conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.”

Mr. Swe told the Council that “this is the time for encouragement and not for undue outside pressure.” The Council, he said, “should refrain from taking any actions at this critical juncture.”