Bangkok: An international meeting to discuss democracy in Burma was April 24 (AP) - postponed after the country's military-ruled government said its foreign minister wouldn't be able to attend, Thailand announced Saturday.
The United Nations special envoy to Burma Razali Ismail and representatives of 16 countries, including 11 who met at a similar meeting in December, were scheduled to attend the so-called Bangkok Process on April 29 and 30.
But Burma told Thailand on Friday that Foreign Minister Win Aung wouldn't be able to participate because they are preparing for a constitutional convention on May 17, said Sihasak Phuangketkeow, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman.
"They requested a postponement of the meeting," Sihasak told The Associated Press by telephone. "The reason given was they're preparing for the National Convention ... Win Aung is involved directly in the preparation for the National Convention, so it would not be convenient for him to attend the meeting."
Thai officials had said late last month Burma was planning to attend the Bangkok meeting.
Burma's ruling military junta has said the first step toward democracy would be to reconvene the National Convention, a constitution-drafting body suspended in 1996.
All parties previously involved have been invited for the meeting next month, including members of the opposition National League for Democracy.
But it hasn't invited pro-democracy
leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained and then placed
under house arrest after a clash between her supporters and a pro-government
mob in northern Burma
last May.
During the first Bangkok meeting in December, the junta promised to work on a "road map" to democracy, but gave no time frame or even a commitment on when Suu Kyi would be freed.
Critics have dismissed the road map as a sham and an attempt to ward off intense international criticism over the junta's record of suppressing democracy and human rights.
Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement, and is now largely isolated by the West.
The Thai government is hoping to set a new date after May 17, said Sihasak.
The delay "doesn't meant the Burma government is not supportive of this Bangkok Process ... All sides including the Burma government remain committed to the Bangkok Process." Besides Burma and Thailand, the participants at last year's meeting were Singapore, Italy, China, Indonesia, Austria, France, Germany, India, Japan and the United Nations. The additional participants this year would be Bangladesh, Laos, Switzerland, Norway and Malaysia.