Burma's chief Opposition party today said there was need for frequent meetings with detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, for discussions on the future course of political negotiations with the ruling junta.
Following the fourth meeting between Burmese junta's Liaison Minister Aung Kyi and detained party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, spokesperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Nyan Win, said they would like more frequent meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as it was crucial for the party leadership to plan the process of negotiation.
"Though we do not see any prospect for a meeting with her [Aung San Suu Kyi], as a party we should be allowed to meet frequently to discuss matters related to the party. So, we are hoping that such a thing would be allowed," Nyan Win told Mizzima. Details of the last meeting between the Burmese democracy icon and the junta's relation officer remains unknown, he added.
Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was last arrested in May 2003, met her party leaders – Aung Shwe, U Lwin, Nyunt Wai and Nyan Win, for the first time – on November 9, 2007, after more than four years.
The NLD leaders, during their last meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, discussed measures with regard to Junta Chief Snr Gen. Than Shwe's demands and the situation after the September protests, Nyan Win said.
In a rare statement issued following the bloody crackdown on protestors in September, Junta head Senior General Than Shwe said he was personally willing to meet the detained Burmese pro-democracy leader, if she abandoned "Confrontation", gave-up "obstructive measures" and stopped her support for "sanction" and "utter devastation".
In what seems to be the first response to Than Shwe's demands, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in a statement released through the visiting UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, expressed her desire to cooperate with the ruling junta for national reconciliation and also welcomed the junta's appointment of a liaison officer and hoped that the meetings between them would be fruitful.
However, the government, in December said it was ready to go ahead with its planned roadmap to democracy and would not allow any other group to derail the process, which it claimed would lead to democracy.
Aung Naing Oo, a Thailand based Burmese analyst, said, "It is very much possible that the junta will continue to hold meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, while not bothering to produce any results. Like what we have seen in the National Convention, which the junta used to buy time and delay the process of negotiation for about 14 years."
Aung Naing Oo said the current talks could be another of the junta's ways of delaying the process of political reforms.
"Even after rounds and rounds of talks, it is very much possible that there would still be no results. Even now, some observers are of the opinion that the junta is holding the meeting as a preparation for the next visit of UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari," Aung Naing Oo added.
During a press conference in Burma's new Jungle capital, Nay Pyi Taw, on December 3, the junta's Liaison Minister Aung Kyi said, the first meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was to gain an understanding of one another, the second was to discuss the framework for the future, while the third was to discuss the facts that should be included in the framework.
However, so far the junta has made no announcement of the fourth meeting with the Burmese opposition leader.
