New York – The United Nations should reject the results of Myanmar'selections, the first held in two decades, and take other "radical
measures" to send a clear message to the junta, activists said Tuesday.
"We are saying the U.N. should stand up firm and say we reject this result
and that should send a strong signal to the current junta," Gum San Nsang,
a representative of the Kachin National Organization, told reporters at a
press conference to discuss the elections at the U.N. headquarters. He was
referring to the expected announcement that Myanmar's pro-junta Union
Solidarity and Development Party will have captured at least 80 percent of
the seats in the national and regional assemblies in elections held
Sunday.
The nationwide poll has been portrayed by Myanmar's military government as
part of a "road map to democracy," but is widely seen in the West as a
political maneuver to cement the junta's grip on power.
"By taking a firm stance, that will increase the leverage power as well of
the United Nations," he added, speaking on behalf of his political
organization, which represents the ethnic group from the northern part of
the country bordering China.
Another activist, Thaung Htun, director of the Burma Fund, also suggested
that other concrete steps be taken by the international body.
First among them would be to have U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon send
his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, "immediately" to the region, he said.
There Nambiar should carry out bilateral talks with officials from
neighboring countries, such as India and China, and other key members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help press Myanmar's
leaders, according to Thaung Htun.
The neighboring and regional countries, he said, "are not yet using their
leverage in terms of diplomatic leverage or economic influence to force
the regime to fully cooperate with the secretary general...to reactivate"
the U.N.'s role in the national reconciliation process.
Other "radical mechanisms," he said, would include having Ban convene a
high level meeting of the so-called Group of Friends of Myanmar at the
foreign minister-level in the region, rather than in New York.
The move could make a difference by "sending a message to the regime there
is the possibility that the regime has to think more to listen to voices
from the region," Thaung Htun said.
Ban in the coming weeks should also "express his opinion very freely" to
the Security Council members, particularly to Russia and China, instead of
"repeating rhetoric" and "pretending that the election is a positive step
forward," he said.
"It is not a positive step, it is creating more problems so we need a
response from the Security Council," he said.
The two activists appeared at the United Nations as part of a panel
sponsored by the United Nations Correspondents Association.
