April 29 (AFP) - Top members of Burma's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) Thursday met with their detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home for the second time to discuss next month's constitutional convention.
All nine members of the NLD's decision-making Central Executive Committee were present, including vice-chairman deputy Tin Oo who was again brought from house arrest to attend the talks, an AFP reporter on the scene saw.
The NLD officials also met
with Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday, but said afterwards that no definite decision
had been reached on whether to attend the military government's March 17 convention
aimed at drafting a
constitution.
"We could make no decision regarding the national convention one way or another," NLD secretary U Lwin said at the time. "Things are very sensitive at this stage," he said, adding: "This is a time when things are so uncertain about the nation's future so we are taking time over this."
The ruling junta is keen for as many political parties and ethnic groups as possible to attend the convention to draft a new constitution, which is the first step in its so-called "roadmap to democracy".
But the NLD refused to make a decision on whether to take part in the forum until it could talk with Aung San Suu Kyi who was taken into detention along with the rest of the leadership during political unrest a year ago.
U Lwin said the party had many things to discuss, including six "objectives" laid down by the regime as the basis for the new constitution, one of which mandates a leading role for the military in any future political scenario.
"Not only the sixth objective which specifies the role of the military, but the other objectives also -- they are all up for discussion," he said, calling for a dialogue with the regime on the issue.
Hopes were high until recently that Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo would be freed before the convention began, but those prospects faded in recent days as the political atmosphere in Yangon grew tense.
Expectations sank further when Yangon announced it would not attend international talks on prospects for reform due to be held in Bangkok this month, forcing their postponement.
But U Lwin said Wednesday that relations with the government had improved and that the NLD would continue to push for Aung San Suu Kyi's release because she "will never ask to be freed".
Analysts have said the convention would have no credibility without the input of the currently detained pro-democracy icon and her party.
The convention is expected to assemble government, political parties and ethnic representatives in a forum that would essentially mirror a previous convention which collapsed in 1995 when the NLD walked out.
The junta drew strong international criticism Tuesday when a group of British parliamentarians accused the regime of "neo-Nazi policies" and carrying out ethnic cleansing through systematic killings and rape.
US President George W. Bush also discussed the situation in Burma with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a telephone conversation Tuesday.