UN says world could snub Myanmar referendum

19 Feb 2005 (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the international community could reject Myanmar's referendum on a constitution if the main opposition party is not included in the process.

Annan has been a vocal critic of decisions by Myanmar 's military rulers, who relaunched a national convention on Thursday aimed at drafting a constitution to be put to vote as part of their "road map" to democracy.

The opposition National League for Democracy is boycotting the convention to protest the house arrest of its leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, and party vice chairman Tin Oo.

In a statement issued by his spokesman on Friday, Annan said the junta should make the constitution and referendum process "transparent and inclusive," and that the absence of the NLD and other parties was regrettable.

"Unless this poll adheres to internationally accepted standards of conduct and participation, it may be difficult for the international community, including the countries of the region, to endorse the result," Annan said.

He said he accepted that Myanmar "faces complex and difficult challenges in its transition to democracy and its quest for national reconciliation," but that the NLD and other groups must have a say.

"The national convention, in its present format, does not adhere to the recommendations made by successive resolutions of the (UN) General Assembly," Annan said.

He called on the junta, "even at this late stage, to take the necessary steps to make the road map process more inclusive and credible."

The European Union and the United States have also rejected the constitutional proceedings without the presence of the NLD, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

As the convention re-opened, Lieutenant General Thein Sein -- who his first secretary of the government, known as the State Peace and
Development Council -- said the military was "working to fulfil the aspirations of the people."

"Democracy can never flourish in an unstable atmosphere. We need peace and stability," he said.

The convention intends to approve the legislative structure adopted in the last session, and discuss how to divide power among legislative, administrative and judicial bodies, he said.

The junta hopes the process will be complete by 2006, when Myanmar is due to assume the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"We can't be sure but that is what we are aiming for," Thein Sein said. General Khin Nyunt, the only top member of the junta who supported any dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, was sacked from his post as prime minister in October last year.

The military intelligence he headed for two decades was disbanded, and 300 people linked to it are standing trial in secret inside the country's notorious Insein prison.

Khin Nyunt had announced the national convention as part of a seven-step "road map" to democracy in August 2003.

Annan again called on the junta "to resume without delay a substantive political dialogue with the representatives of all ethnic nationality groups and political leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to help achieve a genuine process of national reconciliation."

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