Thai prime minister to meet UN secretary-general

Jul 4, 2009, 4:36 GMT

   Bangkok - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will meet United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Saturday night when he transits through Bangkok from neighbouring Myanmar, officials said.

    Ban, who is on a two-day trip to Myanmar pressing for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, was scheduled to meet Abhisit at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport at 10 pm, after which he would hold a press conference.

   'Abhisit is meeting the UN secretary-general both in his capacity as prime minister and as the current chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN),' Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thingpakdi said.

   'Obviously Myanmar will be discussed but it will not be a single-issue meeting,' Thani added.

   Ban travelled to Myanmar on Friday where he met with military supremo Senior General Than Shwe in the army's headquarters at Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon.

   The UN chief also met with 25 representatives from political parties, including four leaders from the National League for Democracy opposition party.

   The outcome of the talks were not immediately made known in the secretive, military-ruled nation.

   Ban reportedly requested to meet on Saturday with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently being held at Yangon's infamous Insein Prison.

   The Nobel peace laureate is on trial for breaking the terms of her house arrest, by allowing US citizen John William Yettaw to swim to her lakeside residence May 3 and spend two nights in her compound.

   A special court was scheduled to hear a defence witness in the Suu Kyi case Friday, but the hearing was postponed until July 10, perhaps because of Ban's arrival.

   Ban last visited Myanmar in May 2008, to hasten international aid to the country in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which killed up to 150,000 people.

   Ban was expected to press the military leaders to release all political prisoners including Suu Kyi, resume dialogue with the opposition, and create conditions for a credible election in 2010.

   Observers believe it is highly unlikely that Than Shwe will agree to release Suu Kyi prior to the election.

   Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked from power by Myanmar's junta ever since.

   The new trial of Suu Kyi, whose most recent six-year house arrest sentence expired May 27, has sparked a chorus of protests from world leaders and statements of concern from its regional allies in ASEAN.