Aung San Suu Kyi Set for Talks with UN Envoy

November 6th: (Guardian) The detained Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is set to meet the UN envoy to the country today. The move is another attempt to resolve the country's political crisis amid reports that she is being treated for an unknown illness.

Ibrahim Gambari has returned to Burma earlier than scheduled to discuss the fallout from the brutal crackdown of anti-government protests in September. He has been holding talks with the senior figures in the ruling military junta in their remote new capital, Naypyitaw, and is hoping to again to persuade the generals to talk to opposition leaders. Mr Gambari is expected to travel to the former capital, Rangoon, to meet Ms Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. Her party, the National League for Democracy, told the Irrawaddy - a website run by exiled Burmese journalist in Thailand - that doctors had been visiting her home. "We do not know yet whether she is suffering from a serious illness or not," the site's spokesman, Nyan Win, said.

Ms Suu Kyi, who is 62, appeared in public for the first time in several years in September when protesting monks gathered outside her home. Pictures of her holding previous talks with Mr Gambari also appeared. She is known to have suffered back pains and problems with her teeth in the past. Mark Farmaner, the acting director of the Burma Campaign UK, said: "She did not look at all well in the pictures with Gambari. She has always been thin, but she looked unusually thin and uncomfortable, and she is normally quite vibrant." He said reports of the democracy leader's failing health could provide added impetus to resolve the crisis, and urged Mr Gambari to take a tougher stance with the generals.

"The UN needs to stop tiptoeing around and start showing some muscle," he added. "The softly softly approach of the UN has got nowhere and has allowed the regime to keep delaying any reform or dialogue. If Mr Gambari can't get negotiations going this time, he will have failed, and the UN director general himself should take over negotiations because the regime shows no respect for UN envoys."

Burma's leading general, Than Shwe, again kept the UN envoy waiting during the current visit. He has refused to talk to him since he arrived on Saturday. On his last trip, Mr Gambari eventually met Gen Shwe after four days of negotiations. After the visit, the general said he would only meet Ms Suu Kyi if she dropped demands for human rights in Burma and calls for sanctions against the regime. The National League for Democracy rejected the demands. Last Friday, the junta announced it would expel the top UN official in the country, Charles Petrie.

It accused him of going beyond his duties by issuing a statement criticising the generals' failure to meet the economic and humanitarian needs of the people and saying this had been the cause of September's protests. The military brutally cracked down on September's protests, firing into crowds and arresting thousands of demonstrators. There have been only two open demonstrations since.
Matthew Weaver and agencies
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