By SETH MYDANS
BANGKOK – In a rare meeting with an outside visitor, Myanmar's pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, told a United Nations envoy over the weekend that she was in good health but needed more frequent medical attention.
Her tightly guarded meeting Saturday at a government office with the envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, was the first time she had been allowed to leave her house since her last meeting with him in May.
During a four-day visit to Myanmar, Mr. Gambari, who is the United Nations under secretary for political affairs, also spoke with officials of the ruling junta including the top leader, Senior General Than Shwe.
The United Nations said in a statement, "Notwithstanding the fact that she remains under detention, Aung San Suu Kyi conveyed to Gambari that she is good health but requires more regular medical visits."
According to local news organizations quoted by The Associated Press, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's personal doctor said he had not visited her since Aug. 24 because of political developments in the country.
Mr. Gambari's visit comes two months after the United Nations Security Council voted to put Myanmar on its agenda, adding to international pressure on the generals on issues of human rights and political freedom.
The release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 61, from house arrest has been a central demand of Western nations for years. Last August the country's close neighbors in the region, which had been reluctant to criticize it openly, joined in the demand.
The U.N. secretary general, Kofi Annan, said in advance of Mr. Gambari's visit that he wanted it to produce "tangible steps forward."
The United States ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, has said that he plans to file a resolution in the Security Council condemning the regime but that he is waiting to see the results of Mr. Gambari's visit.
According to the United Nations statement, which was issued in Myanmar, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi told the envoy that she "welcomes continued engagement by the United Nations in hopes that it can be of help in addressing the many issues that have been raised by Gambari during his visit."
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 11 of the past 17 years. Her meeting in May with Mr. Gambari was the first in which a foreigner had been allowed to see her in more than two years. After her meeting Saturday, the United Nations released a photograph of her, unsmiling and somber.
Special envoys from the United Nations have visited Mynamar over the years but have had little effect on the conduct of the junta, which took power in 1988 by crushing a popular uprising.
The generals then canceled the results of a democratic election in 1990 when they lost to Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy.
|
