Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) Diplomats and international celebrities have boycotted a meeting at which a draft for Myanmar's new constitution was to be unveiled.
The boycott came in the significant absence of the head of the Democratic Movement, Aung San Suu Kyi (currently under house arrest) and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Their absence has cast doubt on the credibility of the event, which Lt. Gen. Thein Sein has called an "historic step on (the country's) road toward democracy".
UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, has asked the countries of Southeast Asia to put pressure on Myanmar authorities to release the Nobel peace prize winner so that she could attend the meeting. Annan said that both he and UN special envoy, Razali Ismail "are discouraged", stating that "despite promises, the military regime still has not freed Suu Kyi nor eliminated restrictions on the National League for Democracy."
Since 1962 Myanmar, formerly Burma, has been ruled without a constitution and legislature under the grip of a pro-Buddhist communist military dictatorship. In 1990, due to international pressures, the regime was forced to call free elections. The elections were won by the NLD party headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The military has however continued to ignore the outcome of those elections, keeping its tight authority on government affairs. It has even launched a campaign of persecution toward the opposition and San Suu Kyi, whom it has thrown in prison several times.
After her release in May of 2002 and 2003, during an ambush on her detention center, San Suu Kyi was abducted and arrested again. Rumors have been circulating about her imminent release for about a month now, which would have come just time for her to attend the national meeting. (MR)
