SINGAPORE: Following is the text of the statement by Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released Thursday by U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

"I wish to thank all those who have stood by my side all this time, both inside and outside my country. I am also grateful to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his unwavering support for the cause of national reconciliation, democracy and human rights in my country.

"I welcome the appointment on 8 October of Minister Aung Kyi as Minister for Relations. Our first meeting on 25 October was constructive and I look forward to further regular discussions. I expect that this phase of preliminary consultations will conclude soon so that a meaningful and timebound dialogue with the SPDC leadership can start as early as possible.

"In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the Government in order to make this process of dialogue a success and welcome the necessary good offices role of the United Nations to help facilitate our efforts in this regard.

"In full awareness of the essential role of political parties in democratic societies, in deep appreciation of the sacrifices of the members of my party and in my position as General Secretary, I will be guided by the policies and wishes of the National League for Democracy. However, in this time of vital need for democratic solidarity and national unity, it is my duty to give constant and serious considerations to the interests and opinions of as broad a range of political organizations and forces as possible, in particular those of our ethnic nationality races.

"To that end, I am committed to pursue the path of dialogue constructively and invite the Government and all relevant parties to join me in this spirit.

"I believe that stability, prosperity and democracy for my country, living at peace with itself and with full respect for human rights, offers the best prospect for my country to fully contribute to the development and stability of the region in close partnership with its neighbors and fellow ASEAN members, and to play a positive role as a respected member of the international community."

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Statement by Mr. Gambari on behalf of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
http://yangon.unic.org/index.php?option=com_ontent&task=view&id=110&Itemid=73
http://burmanewsandarticles.blogspot.com/
Thursday, 08 November 2007
Singapore

As you know, I have just completed a mission to Myanmar from 3 to 8 November, where I met today with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.  In my capacity as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General for Myanmar, I was authorized by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to make the following statement on her behalf:

• I wish to thank all those who have stood by my side all this time, both inside and outside my country.  I am also grateful to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, for his unwavering support for the cause of national reconciliation, democracy and human rights in my country. 

• I welcome the appointment on 8 October of Minister Aung Kyi as Minister for Relations. Our first meeting on 25 October was constructive and I look forward to further regular discussions. I expect that this phase of preliminary consultations will conclude soon so that a meaningful and timebound dialogue with the SPDC leadership can start as early as possible.

• In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the Government in order to make this process of dialogue a success and welcome the necessary good offices role of the United Nations to help facilitate our efforts in this regard.

• In full awareness of the essential role of political parties in democratic societies, in deep appreciation of the sacrifices of the members of my party and in my position as General Secretary, I will be guided by the policies and wishes of the National League for Democracy.  However, in this time of vital need for democratic solidarity and national unity, it is my duty to give constant and serious considerations to the interests and opinions of as broad a range of political organizations and forces as possible, in particular those of our ethnic nationality races. 

• To that end, I am committed to pursue the path of dialogue constructively and invite the Government and all relevant parties to join me in this spirit.

• I believe that stability, prosperity and democracy for my country, living at peace with itself and with full respect for human rights, offers the best prospect for my country to fully contribute to the development and stability of the region in close partnership with its neighbours and fellow ASEAN members, and to play a positive role as a respected member of the international community.             

I am now scheduled to return to New York to brief the Secretary-General on all the aspects of my mission. I will therefore not be able to take any questions at this time.

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The New York Times
November 9, 2007
Opposition Leader to Cooperate With Myanmar Junta
By THOMAS FULLER

BANGKOK, Nov. 8 — Myanmar’s military government said today it would allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country’s stifled democracy movement, to meet with senior leaders of her political party, a small step toward reconciliation that came as the United Nations ended its latest mission to the country.

In a statement released by the United Nations envoy after he left the country, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said, “In the interest of the nation I stand ready to cooperate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success.”

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years, has not seen executive members of her party, the National League for Democracy, in at least 3 years. Myanmar state television said she would be allowed to meet with them on Friday.

A statement issued by the United Nations today said the United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, had established a “process” that would “lead to substantive dialogue” between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the generals. She and Mr. Gambari met for an hour today. He released her statement in Singapore.

But these glimmers of hope were mitigated by signs that the country’s ruling generals are hardening their stance against broader efforts by the United Nations to convince them to relinquish some of their power.

During Mr. Gambari’s six-day visit, he was denied a meeting with the country’s top general, Than Shwe, and Mr. Gambari’s suggestion that he directly broker talks between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of the junta was rejected.

Mr. Gambari was lectured by the country’s information minister, who accused him of not understanding Myanmar society and being biased in favor of Western powers. And Mr. Gambari envoy bowed to demands that Charles Petrie, the highest ranking United Nations official in Myanmar, leave the country.

“It’s indicative of what we still need to overcome,” Mr. Petrie said by telephone from Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Mr. Petrie, who said he would leave the country by the end of the month, angered the ruling generals in October by saying that Myanmar’s humanitarian situation was deteriorating and that the government should listen to the voices of protesters.

Mr. Gambari is the sixth United Nations envoy over the past decade to try to persuade the ruling generals to reconcile with their political opponents. Often the junta has offered limited degrees of freedom to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi only to clamp down soon after.

The junta has been openly mistrustful of the United Nations visits. In 2003, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, broke off his mission to the country after finding a wireless microphone under the table in the room at the prison where he was interviewing with inmates. Mr. Pinheiro is scheduled to return to Myanmar on Sunday for a five-day visit.

This was Mr. Gambari’s second trip to Myanmar since the junta’s deadly crackdown in September on protests led by monks and students. The United Nations statement released after his departure said Mr. Gambari had been invited by the government to return “and expects to do so in the next few weeks.”

State-run media in Myanmar offered detailed, skeptical accounts of Mr. Gambari’s meetings with officials. The New Light of Myanmar, the government mouthpiece, published what it described as the full text of the negotiating position laid out by the country’s information minister, Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, on behalf of the junta. For an otherwise opaque and secretive government this was a strikingly transparent act of diplomacy.

General Kyaw Hsan accused Mr. Gambari of being biased in favor of big Western powers, suggested he was ignorant about Myanmar’s history, declared his previous visit did not bear fruit and warned him that “it would be a very serious mistake if Myanmar’s affair is viewed superficially.”

He demanded that Mr. Gambari “play a leading role in organizing and persuading others to relieve and lift sanctions” on Myanmar. The statement took up over two pages of the Wednesday edition of the New Light of Myanmar.

According to the accompanying account of the meeting, Mr. Gambari suggested that he directly broker talks between Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and a representative from the junta. General Kyaw Hsan rejected this idea and said Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi would not be released from house arrest unless she abandoned her support for sanctions on Myanmar and stopped advocating a “course of confrontation and utter devastation.”

David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, said the government had lost legitimacy in the eyes of many people in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country when it reacted violently to the peaceful protests by monks.

“They can’t go back to where they were before — this is a watershed crisis, a different kind,” Mr. Steinberg said. “The frustrations in the populace are cumulative. The next crisis is going to be more bloody, more difficult. Unless there are changes within that government you’re going to have real trouble.”

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Suu Kyi says she is ready to cooperate with junta
International Herald Tribune
The Associated Press
Thursday, November 8, 2007

SINGAPORE: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she is ready to cooperate with her country's junta to bring about national reconciliation, according to her statement released by a U.N. envoy on Thursday.

In the statement, Suu Kyi welcomed the appointment of a government minister, Aung Kyi, to coordinate a possible dialogue for reconciliation between the junta and the pro-democracy opposition.

"In the interest of the nation I stand ready to cooperate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success," said Suu Kyi in her statement, released by the envoy, Ibrahim Gambari.

The statement was the first message from Suu Kyi since she was detained in May 2003 and put under house arrest.

Gambari met Suu Kyi for an hour just before his departure Thursday from Myanmar. He flew to Singapore where he read out a statement to reporters. He said he was leaving Singapore Friday to return to U.N. headquarters in New York.

The developments have raised a glimmer of hope for restoring democracy in Myanmar, which has been under military rule since 1962.

The current junta came to power in 1988. It held elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a landslide. Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel peace laureate, has spent 12 of the last 18 years in government custody.

"We now have a process going which will lead to a dialogue between the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," Gambari told reporters, using an honorific for elderly women. "Such a dialogue is key instrument in promoting national reconciliation and the goals of peace and democracy and full respect for human rights in Myanmar."

In her statement, Suu Kyi thanked the United Nations for its "unwavering support" for national reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Myanmar.

"In this time of vital need for democratic solidarity and national unity, it is my duty to give constant and serious consideration to the interests and opinions of as broad a range of political organizations and forces as possible, in particular those of our ethnic nationality races," Suu Kyi said.

"To that end I am committed to pursue the path of dialogue constructively and invite the government and all relevant parties to join me in this spirit," she said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/11/08/asia/AS-GEN-Singapore-Myanmar-UN.php

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