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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
RP, New Zealand salvage UN envoy's visit
SINGAPORE -- UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari's planned address on Myanmar to Asean leaders was canceled abruptly, but his trip to Singapore was salvaged by the Philippines and New Zealand, which said Tuesday they would speak with him.
Gambari will meet with Philippine President Arroyo Macapagal-Arroyo later Tuesday to discuss his efforts to restore democracy in the military-ruled country, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.
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Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand will also get a private briefing from Gambari on Wednesday, the New Zealand Press Association reported.
Myanmar has dominated deliberations at this week's meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose 10 members held their annual summit Tuesday. They are scheduled to hold another gathering Wednesday with six other countries: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
Host Singapore invited Gambari to address the 16 nations at the East Asia Summit, but it became clear by Monday afternoon that the invitation had turned into a diplomatic faux pas.
Several leaders, including those of Malaysia and Indonesia, supported Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein's view that Gambari's visit amounted to interfering with Myanmar's internal affairs.
"That's a domestic issue, no need to raise in the EAS," Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win said in brief comments before his guards pushed away a phalanx of reporters. He declined to comment when asked why opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has not been released from house arrest, where she had been detained for 12 of the last 18 years.
Some leaders were also upset that Singapore invited Gambari without consulting others. Thein Sein told his Asean colleagues that Myanmar, also known as Burma, was capable of dealing with Gambari on its own.
The New Zealand Press Association quoted Clark as saying that her meeting with Gambari was "a chance to get some more insights into what it actually felt like in Burma endeavoring to deal with that regime."
She said Asean is embarrassed not only because Myanmar has an authoritarian government but because the regime "is prepared to turn guns on peaceful protesters."
Despite canceling Gambari's address, Asean countries urged Myanmar's junta to open a "meaningful dialogue" with Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, release her from house arrest, free political detainees, and work toward a "peaceful transition to democracy."
In New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said "it would have been desirable and better for Gambari to report and brief the East Asia summit leaders on the situation in Myanmar."
Gambari began pushing Myanmar's junta to restart political reconciliation with Suu Kyi after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in September that left at least 15 people dead. (AP)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (November 21, 2007 issue)
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