UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday voiced growing frustration at the failure by Myanmar’s military regime to restore democracy and ruled out a return visit to the country at present.
After meeting with envoys of key countries seeking to foster dialogue between the military regime and its democratic opposition, Ban told reporters he sensed “not only high expectations but also growing frustration that our efforts have yet to yield the results we all hoped for.”
“I share this sense of expectation and frustration,” he said, saying that he expected Myanmar’s rulers “to implement their commitments” regarding the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
“I urge the government of Myanmar to respond positively without further delay to our specific suggestions,” Ban said as he appealed to all countries to “use whatever available leverage and tools to impress on the government of Myanmar [the need] to implement their commitments.”
The UN secretary-general said he remained committed to pursuing his good offices role to bring about national reconciliation in Myanmar but ruled out a return visit in the immediate future.
“At this time I do not think that the atmosphere is ripe for me to undertake my own visit there,” he said. “But I am committed, and I am ready to visit any time, whenever I can have reasonable expectations of my visit, to be productive and meaningful.”
Ban made a lightning visit to the country in May after its military rulers came under international fire for not allowing foreign aid in after a cyclone left 138,000 people dead or missing.
The UN boss made the remarks on Friday after huddling with his so-called “group of friends on Myanmar.”
The group comprises the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia and the US — as well as Australia, the EU, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
On Wednesday, more than 100 former leaders wrote to the UN chief urging him to travel to Myanmar to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
The prominent figures behind the letter include ex-US presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-Australian prime minister John Howard, former French prime minister Lionel Jospin, former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and ex-Philippine leaders Fidel Ramos and Corazon Aquino.
The letter recalled that the Council had on Oct. 11 last year issued a statement urging the early release of all political prisoners in Myanmar.
The UN also had set the release of all political prisoners as one of its benchmark goals this year.
However, in direct defiance of these demands, the military junta has instead increased the number of political prisoners from 1,200 in June last year to over 2,100, the letter said.
Last month, more than 100 Myanmar activists, including members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and relief workers, journalists, monks and lawyers, were each given harsh sentences of up to 68 years in prison.
Their jailing came in the wake of a crackdown on those involved in protests in the middle of last year that were brutally crushed by the military junta.
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