AP news

UNITED NATIONS -A letter signed by 112 former presidents and prime ministers urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to return to Myanmar and press its military junta to free all political prisoners.

The letter, an effort led by former prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of Norway, said Ban should make good on the Security Council’s call in October 2007 for Myanmar’s government to release the prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

A return trip “would illustrate for the world whether or not the Burmese military regime is serious about making changes called for by the United Nations Security Council and your good offices,” the letter said.

Ban traveled to Myanmar, also known as Burma, last May after Cyclone Nargis devastated coastal areas. Setting aside political considerations, he persuaded the junta’s top leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, to ease access for foreign aid workers and relief supplies.

Ban received the letter and spoke with Bondevik on Wednesday.

“He said he would like to visit Myanmar again to discuss a broad range of issues but that he will not be able to do so without reasonable expectations of a meaningful outcome,” U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said.

Ban’s special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, also will not go back until he has a “real possibility of moving forward there,” she said.

Among other signers of the letter were former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, former British prime ministers Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and John Major, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and former Polish president Lech Walesa.

“We urge you to make it clear that all political prisoners in Burma must be released by the end of this year, regardless of whether you travel to Burma,” they wrote.

Myanmar’s military, which has ruled since 1962, tolerates no dissent and crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September 2007. It holds more than 2,100 political prisoners, up sharply from nearly 1,200 before the demonstrations, human rights groups say.