BURMA: UN envoy's first visit in four years
Updated
The United Nations Human Rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro is in Burma, his first visit in four years. Mr Pinheiro says he hopes to meet political prisoners and to find out exactly how many people died, when the military cracked down on protesting monks and their supporters in September.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Maureen Aung Thwin, Director, Burma project, London
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: No I don't think we're expecting too much. You know he has to do his job, he hasn't been able to do it for - what 4 years now and I think the least we expect from him is he has to be able to see some of the detainees - some of the arrested people.
SEN LAM: How meaningful though is his visit given that he's not scheduled to meet with the top generals such as people like General Than Shwe.
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: How meaningful it will be, will depend on who he gets to meet of the people who were victimized, after all nobody's been able to talk to him. ICIC has not had any access to the prisoners and even though Mr Gambari got to talk to Aung Sang Suu Kyi, it was an estate guesthouse. So I'm hoping that Mr Pinheiro will be able to you after all his mandate is different, he's got to look into the human rights abuses. So if he gets any extra information from there it would have been worth it.
SEN LAM: How will his access to prisoners, how will that help him determine the number of people who are still detained, the number of monks who have disappeared?
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: You know he's got his ways and he has some staff with him, its not just going to be him talking to each prisoner and saying how many do you think died. I mean there are other ways and there are other people that he will be able to talk to and his aides will be able to talk to, but I think its almost an impossible task to find out how many people are dead because so many are missing.
SEN LAM: Some people have pointed out that the Generals have allowed Sergio Pinheiro to return to Burma as a kind of sweetener to ASEAN - the Association of South East Asian Nations and indeed the international community which have been quite loud and quite vocal in protesting against last September's brutal crackdown, what do you make of that assessment?
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: Well, I have to say I don't blame anybody for being cynical about it, they've done this before, they did it in 2003, the last time they let him in was when some people thought she was going to be released you know and then that was it, then she was put away for incommunicado more or less for the last 4 years. So just because they let him in I think you know most people and I don't blame us for thinking that is to buy some time and to do a sweetener like you said. However, having said that, if it is a little different this time because of what happened to the monks and they do feel some pressure, I still think it was a good thing, they had to coincide.
SEN LAM: Well shortly before the special envoy Ibrahim Gambari left last week, Aung Sang Suu Kyi managed to have a brief meeting with the Labor Minister, the person that the military has charged with as being a liaison person with the pro democracy movement, do you know what happened at that meeting?
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: Nobody said what happened at the meeting. In her statement she said it was a constructive meeting but she also quickly added that she hopes that you know a more time bound and a real process will start soon. So in other words she wasn't dismissive, like she did call it for what it was, it was a very preliminary meeting.
SEN LAM: And if there is progress as Ibrahim Gambari claimed, its at a snail's pace, isn't it, its very slow.
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: Oh absolutely! And as everybody talks about the Junta jive, you know one step forward and two steps behind, so its extremely, extremely slow. But I think this time because of the monks and because of the horrific you know the brutality on the revered people on the revered monks, I think they crossed the line, I think they know it.
SEN LAM: Well Miss Suu Kyi certainly seems very optimistic, do you think that the general is also in the mood for talks?
MAUREEN AUNG THWIN: I'm not sure because its just gonna be, its gonna be upto them and they've got the next … they've got you know its upto them next, because you know she's made her statement, she's obviously optimistic and wanting to … and she said she's willing to do this. So we'll just have to wait and see.
