Font size: 
The international community hoped that Gambari would succeed in persuading the military to open a genuine political dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic groups to create a national reconciliation process leading to a genuine democracy.
Contrary to this, Gambari failed to have meetings with the senior general or the detained democracy leader. The Nobel laureate, Suu Kyi, did not attend a planned meeting with the U.N. special envoy on Aug. 20. It seems that she is taking a stand against the junta's setup of the meeting.
According to some analysts, the lady did not show up because she did not want to be exploited by Gambari so he could overstate that his mission is going well. It is Gambari's fourth trip to the military-ruled country since a deadly crackdown on anti-government demonstrators led by Buddhist monks last September sparked a large-scale challenge. Gambari and the Nobel laureate of Burma were due to meet as part of the United Nation’s shuttle diplomacy to propel political reform in Burma.
Since 1962, Burma has been ruled by a military regime that has earned itself one of the world’s worst human rights records after brutal assaults against a pro-democracy movement in 1988, during the Depayin incident on May 30, 2003, and against the Saffron Revolution in September 2007, as well as many other sporadic crackdowns. The junta has arrested over 2,000 political dissidents including Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been confined to her residence for most of the last 19 years.
The regime held a unilateral referendum at gunpoint on May 10 and 24 of this year and approved a new pro-military Constitution, which will legalize military rule in the 2010 elections. There is no doubt that the process will not be free and fair, similar to the recent gunpoint referendum. The socioeconomic atmosphere has been deteriorating due to repeated mismanagement by the junta.
The ruling Burmese junta has also committed a series of mistakes in dealing with political issues. It will face a desolate future if it continues to reject the national reconciliation process being urged by the key opposition groups of the National League for Democracy and the United Nationalities Alliance.
The NLD and UNA point out that the recent ratification of the Constitution is invalid since it was conducted against the will of the people and amid a lack of international norms. The junta also shows no respect toward the Presidential Statement of the U.N. Security Council issued in October 2007 and neglects the consecutive resolutions laid down by the U.N. General Assembly.
It appears that the junta has no plan to release its 2,000-plus political prisoners and undertake a tripartite dialogue among the junta, the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and representatives of ethnic nationalities, as has been called for by consecutive General Assemblies.
Analysts say the new Constitution and the junta's unyielding adherence to its seven-step roadmap toward the 2010 elections make Gambari's mission almost nonsensical.
Is Ibrahim Gambari the right person to act as a special envoy between detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior General Than Shwe, the head of Burma’s military junta? Many pro-democracy advocates will give the same answer, “No, he’s disqualified.”
This is because Gambari cannot achieve anything since he complies with the Burmese regime’s to-do list and spends most of his time with pro-junta groups or the junta’s puppets. He should demand to meet the representatives of the group of 92 members of the Parliament-elect, who have sent letters to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.
And he should, at least, urge the junta to release two members of this group, U Nyi Pu and Tin Min Htut, who were arrested on Aug. 12. Three representatives of this group, U Pu Chin Sian Thang, U Thein Pe, and Myint Naing, are accessible in Rangoon, but the U.N. envoy did not try to contact them.
Instead, Gambari met with the disreputable Union Solidarity and Development Association – a gang similar to Hitler's “Brown Shirts” – which carried out an assassination attempt on Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30, 2003, and, in that premeditated attack, slaughtered scores of her supporters.
The worst of it is that, when he met with the NLD, he encouraged them that the 2010 elections will be free and fair. But, when asked, he could not give his opinion of the 1990 elections. Furthermore, he did not even recognize that the purpose of his current mission was to focus on resuming political dialogue with the key opposition to this military-ruled country, which was postponed after Cyclone Nargis hit in May.
Regardless, the Mission of the United Nations to Burma, led by the secretary-general's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, should not be taking the wrong road in this situation. Gambari should not be advocating or supporting the military dictators’ sham Constitution and sham 2010 elections. It will damage not only the mission but also the dignity of the world body.
In light of the fact that Burma’s military regime has never paid any attention to the United Nation's recommendations to fix the country's conspicuous problems, it is vital for the U.N. Secretary General to take up the challenge and address the enduring crisis in Burma in a more direct manner.
--
(Zin Linn is a freelance Burmese journalist living in exile. He is the information director at the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma-East Office and vice president of Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. He can be contacted at uzinlinn@gmail.com. ©Copyright Zin Linn)
