The Myanmar government Friday expressed, in an announcement, its
regret over a presidential statement on the country unanimously
adopted by the 15-nation United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on
Thursday.
The announcement blamed the UNSC for such adoption "although
Myanmar's situation constitutes no impact on the regional peace and
security".
Vowing to continue to adopt its fundamental foreign policy, the
announcement insisted that the government would also continue to
follow its own seven-step roadmap to democracy after the ending of
its constitutional national convention, the first step of the
roadmap.
The 15-nation UNSC statement called for efforts from the Myanmar
government and all parties to achieve an inclusive national
reconciliation and to boost democracy and development through
dialogue.
Meanwhile, the National League for Democracy (NLD) expressed
welcome over the presidential statement on Myanmar, stressing the
need for prompt implementation of national reconciliation in line
with the UNSC adoption.
A government announcement on Oct. 4 said Senior-General Than
Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, is
willing to meet and talk personally on conditions with Aung San Suu
Kyi, detained NLD general secretary, if she declares to abandon her
"exerted efforts for confrontation, utter devastation, and imposing
all kinds of sanctions including economic sanctions against
Myanmar".
The NLD stressed that the main requirement to solve the critical
issues which the country is facing is the desire for meeting and
having dialogue, adding that it favors no pre-conditions for the
move.
Than Shwe made the offer on Oct. 4 when he met with Ibrahim
Gambari, the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon, who was on a special mission to Myanmar.
As a follow-up, as proposed by Gambari, the Myanmar government
appointed on Oct. 8 Deputy Minister of Labor U Aung Kyi to act as
liaison minister to get link with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Before his ending of the trip, Gambari was allowed to meet with
Than Shwe in Nay Pyi Taw and twice with Aung San Suu Kyi in
Yangon.
Gambari came to Yangon on Sept. 29 amid widespread mass
demonstrations by Buddhist monks and people in several parts of the
country to look into its situation and play the UN's part in
seeking for Myanmar's national reconciliation.
So far, Yangon and Mandalay are still under curfew but the
situation is generally calm.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2007)
