Bangkok, Thailand — U.N. Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma for two days last week to prepare for a trip by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the ruling junta’s state media reported. State television reported on June 27 that Gambari met with Foreign Minister Nyan Win in the capital of Naypyitaw and discussed preparations for the visit. “The secretary-general looks forward to returning to Burma to address directly with the senior leadership a broad range of issues, including longstanding concerns to the United Nations and to the international community,” a spokesperson told reporters at the daily press briefing held at U.N. headquarters in New York on Monday.

Ban arrived in Japan on Tuesday for a three-day visit, during which he planned to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone to discuss the trial of Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters in early June that he was prepared to visit Myanmar (Burma). “Promoting democratization, including the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, has been one of my top priorities and it will continue to be my top priority,” Ban said.

Suu Kyi’s trial has outraged her local and international supporters, who say the military regime is using the story of John Yettaw – the uninvited American who swam across a lake to her home, allegedly breaking the rules of her house arrest – as a pretext to keep her in custody through elections scheduled for 2010.

This will be Burma’s first election since the one Suu Kyi’s party won in 1990. It is widely believed that the junta wishes her off the political stage during the run-up to the polls.

Suu Kyi’s trial, conducted at a special court set up in Insein Prison, is scheduled to resume on July 3, the same day Ban arrives, according to a National League for Democracy source.

After his talks with Nakasone, Ban told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday that he was aware of concerns about his July 3-4 visit coinciding with the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the main opposition leader, who has been under house arrest for several years.

“It may be the case that the trial happens during my visit to Myanmar (Burma). I am very much conscious of that,” Ban told reporters. “I consider that three of the most important issues for Myanmar cannot be left unaddressed at this juncture,” he said.

According to Ban, the first issue on his agenda will be the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi. The other two points are the resumption of dialogue between the military rulers and the opposition and the creation of conditions favorable to a trustworthy election.

For Burma, there can be no proper democratic system while the Lady and some 2,100 fellow political leaders languish in the junta’s prisons. It is ironic that Suu Kyi, the freedom icon of our generation, is put through such inhumane treatment while the autocratic military talks of democracy to the world and to its citizens.

Burma’s pro-democracy movement has urged the international community to have responsible plans in place if the situation boils over in the approaching days. The area around the prison compound is heavily guarded and roads have been blocked off, as the military regime fortifies itself for a possible protest at the treatment of the democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Around 70 Burmese were killed and hundreds were imprisoned following the last major public demonstrations, known as the Saffron Revolution, in September 2007. Currently there are over 2,100 political prisoners – including student leaders, ethnic leaders, members of Parliament, influential monks and many intellectuals – in various prisons in the military-ruled country.

The people of Burma have been asking for a concerted effort from major powers like India, China, the United States and the European Union, as well as regional bodies like ASEAN, to work together to find a solution to this unsustainable situation.

First, the United Nations should provide the most effective means of solving this crisis. It must work to defuse current tensions and secure the release of all political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

Secondly, an emergency session of the Security Council should be convened without delay to discuss the situation in Burma and to decide upon what collective action can be taken in an effective manner.

This is precisely the time that the United Nations must lead, rally all powers, and show the world it is not organized to sit absentmindedly by while extensive injustice is perpetrated on the people of Burma.

The United Nations, the European Union and ASEAN ought to collaborate to convince China to cooperate in finding a solution for the crisis in Burma. Regional players should urge the military regime to abandon its recalcitrant policies in the interests of dialogue and reconciliation.

Burma’s generals must take into account the immediate release of the Lady and all political prisoners if it seeks peaceful settlement and reconciliation. It is a rare confluence of views that have seen the international community from the U.N. Security Council, the United States, the European Union and ASEAN taking the same view on the question of Aung San Suu Kyi.

To create a win-win equation, the military must recognize Suu Kyi as the ideal – indeed, the only relevant – dialogue partner for national reconciliation in Burma. If the generals continue their anti-dialogue stance, the poverty-stricken people of Burma will face further socioeconomic problems. This could cause a strong reaction against the 2010 elections, seen as a charade.

Besides, as long as Suu Kyi is in confinement, her popularity – which gave her a sweeping victory in the 1990 election – will not fade, it will only grow stronger. The fact is that people already know the process of the junta’s general election next year has almost nothing to do with democracy.

Nyan Win, the spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and a member of her legal team, told the media that his party welcomes Ban’s visit.

“His visit will focus on three main things: to release all political prisoners, to start dialogue and also to ensure free and fair elections in 2010. Regarding these three things, he needs to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi,” Nyan Win said.

Therefore Ban must cautiously handle the sensitive question of Burma during his July 3-4 trip, not only to keep his own promise, but also to produce a fruitful solution to a half-century-long political conflict.

–

(Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist living in exile in Thailand. he is working at the NCGUB East Office as an information director and is vice-president of Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. He can be contacted at uzinlinn@gmail.com. ©Copyright Zin Linn.)

http://www.upiasia.com/Politics/2009/07/02/can_ban_ki-moon_handle_burma/5105/