The United Nations should not accept a recent invitation to visit Burma, says Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) vice-chairman Nai Ngwe Thein. Instead, Gambari should visit the country according to his own schedule, including meetings with opposition leaders.
The vice-chairman told IMNA in a recent interview that accepting the junta’s invitation would mean visiting Burma as a guest, subject to the regime’s schedule and complete control.
According to the Irrawaddy, Burma’s ambassador to the United Nations recently invited UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to visit the country in late November or early December. Gambari has yet to respond.
Gambari visited Burma from August 18th to the 23rd and viewed areas in the Irrawaddy Delta hit by Cyclone Nargis. He also met with a small number of opposition groups including the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma’s largest opposition party. Importantly, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, beloved Nobel laureate and head of the NLD who has been under house arrest for the better part of two decades, refused to meet with Gambari.
Prior to Gambari’s visit, “Five Points” were agreed to by the UN Security Council and the “Group of Friends for Myanmar,” made up of India, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Australia, Norway, Japan, South Korea and the EU presidency.
The five points urged Burma’s military government to: release political prisoners; enter into dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi; begin a credible political process; address socio-economic issues; regularize the Good Offices role of the UN.
The junta continues to ignore the Five Points, said Nai Ngwe Thein, and is inviting Gambari in an attempt to engage him from a position of control. “The military will run their election in 2010. They want to avoid the five points,” said Nai Ngwe Thein. “The UN has called on the military to enter a dialogue on national reconciliation, but the military will do the opposite.”
Instead of complying, Nai Ngwe Thein said, the junta will continue on its “seven point” roadmap to “disciplined democracy.” The fourth step was completed in May 2008, when the junta held a referendum on a new constitution. Both the referendum process and the constitution have been almost universally condemned as undemocratic, but the junta claims that the document won an approval vote of almost 92%.
The fifth step is scheduled for 2010, when Burma will hold its first national elections in twenty years. A variety of domestic and international voices have condemned the upcoming election, arguing that it is predicated upon an illegitimate document.
The MNDF-Liberated Area, based in Mae Sot, is expected to refuse participation in the election, reported the exile news agency Kaowao Newsgroup in late October. The New Mon State Party, the largest political party representing Mon people, has also said that it will not participate.
The MNDF has been a crucial Mon political party for over twenty years and won five seats in the 1990 election, which was later annulled. A number of MNDF leaders – including Nai Ngwe Thein – were arrested and the party was officially banned in 1992.
Gambari should visit Burma on his own terms, says MNDF leader
Thu 06 Nov 2008, Sein Myint and Mi Kyae Goe
The United Nations should not accept a recent invitation to visit Burma, says Mon National Democratic Front (MNDF) vice-chairman Nai Ngwe Thein. Instead, Gambari should visit the country according to his own schedule, including meetings with opposition leaders.
The vice-chairman told IMNA in a recent interview that accepting the junta’s invitation would mean visiting Burma as a guest, subject to the regime’s schedule and complete control.
According to the Irrawaddy, Burma’s ambassador to the United Nations recently invited UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to visit the country in late November or early December. Gambari has yet to respond.
Gambari visited Burma from August 18th to the 23rd and viewed areas in the Irrawaddy Delta hit by Cyclone Nargis. He also met with a small number of opposition groups including the National League for Democracy (NLD), Burma’s largest opposition party. Importantly, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, beloved Nobel laureate and head of the NLD who has been under house arrest for the better part of two decades, refused to meet with Gambari.
Prior to Gambari’s visit, “Five Points” were agreed to by the UN Security Council and the “Group of Friends for Myanmar,” made up of India, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, China, Australia, Norway, Japan, South Korea and the EU presidency.
The five points urged Burma’s military government to: release political prisoners; enter into dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi; begin a credible political process; address socio-economic issues; regularize the Good Offices role of the UN.
The junta continues to ignore the Five Points, said Nai Ngwe Thein, and is inviting Gambari in an attempt to engage him from a position of control. “The military will run their election in 2010. They want to avoid the five points,” said Nai Ngwe Thein. “The UN has called on the military to enter a dialogue on national reconciliation, but the military will do the opposite.”
Instead of complying, Nai Ngwe Thein said, the junta will continue on its “seven point” roadmap to “disciplined democracy.” The fourth step was completed in May 2008, when the junta held a referendum on a new constitution. Both the referendum process and the constitution have been almost universally condemned as undemocratic, but the junta claims that the document won an approval vote of almost 92%.
The fifth step is scheduled for 2010, when Burma will hold its first national elections in twenty years. A variety of domestic and international voices have condemned the upcoming election, arguing that it is predicated upon an illegitimate document.
The MNDF-Liberated Area, based in Mae Sot, is expected to refuse participation in the election, reported the exile news agency Kaowao Newsgroup in late October. The New Mon State Party, the largest political party representing Mon people, has also said that it will not participate.
The MNDF has been a crucial Mon political party for over twenty years and won five seats in the 1990 election, which was later annulled. A number of MNDF leaders – including Nai Ngwe Thein – were arrested and the party was officially banned in 1992.
