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Myanmar: UN pressed for results
06/11/2007 09:20 - (SA)
Yangon - UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari met Myanmar's information minister on Tuesday as the United States pressed for concrete results from his mission aimed at pushing the junta towards democracy.
Gambari was also due to meet the country's religion and economic development ministers, but officials were tight-lipped as to whether he would be granted time with powerful junta head Than Shwe.
It is Gambari's second mission to Myanmar since a junta crackdown killed at least 13 protesters in late September, and he is under pressure to come away from his trip with concrete results.
"Now he is meeting with the information minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan," a Myanmar government official told AFP.
Gambari is due to meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Wednesday.
US wants improvement
The United States said on Monday it wanted the junta to hold direct dialogue with the opposition and move towards freeing about 1 000 political prisoners, arrested both before and after recent protests.
"It will not be sufficient for the United States if we see a series of meetings but no actual improvement in the conditions for the Burmese (Myanmar) people," US Assistant Secretary of State Kristen Silverberg said in Bangkok.
The United States has also upped diplomatic pressure on Myanmar's Asian allies, pressing members of regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sever financial ties with the junta.
"We believe that there are regime officials with accounts in Singapore and in other governments, and we hope that the countries will ensure that their financial institutions are not being used as sanctuary for Burmese officials," Silverberg told reporters.
The United Nations has given little indication of how Gambari's meetings are going, and the trip has taken place amid tensions between the world body and Myanmar.
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