Myanmar Faces Collision Course with UN: Envoy 
By Reuters
January 9, 2006
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-myanmar.html

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Myanmar's military regime could find itself on a collision course with the United Nations Security Council by turning a deaf ear to a growing global chorus for political reform, a UN diplomat said on Monday.
Former Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, who gave up his post as UN special envoy to Myanmar when his contract expired on January 3, said the Security Council took a small step in showing its concern by holding an informal meeting on Myanmar last month.
``The longer the regime is obdurate, and the more people hear about problems from within, and if ASEAN cannot make an impact or influence, then one way or another it leads to the Security Council,'' Razali told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Decisions of the 15-nation council can be binding on all UN members.
Razali said Myanmar's generals seemed to be digging in their heels against demands for reform from colleagues in the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, as well as the United Nations.
``It is becoming increasingly difficult to see a situation where clear steps toward national reconciliation and democracy would take place and the UN is being kept at bay, as it were, as much as possible,'' he added.
In Yangon, Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy said Razali's resignation would have little impact, and urged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to find a replacement for him.
``I think Mr. Kofi Annan will find someone acceptable to the SPDC,'' party secretary U Lwin told Reuters, referring to the junta by its formal name, the State Peace and Development Council. 
BLOCKING VISITS
Razali said he stepped down from his job as Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy because the junta had not let him visit Myanmar for 23 months.
Nevertheless, the UN must continue trying to engage Myanmar in dialogue, he said.
``It's not that there are not enough people,'' he said. ``The question is, if those people are picked and they still will not be allowed to get in and do the things that I used to do before -- meeting all the political parties -- then what have you got yourself to?
``At the same time, the UN must remain as engaged as possible with Myanmar. It's not a question of closing the door.''
Last month, a senior UN official told the Security Council that the junta was throwing political dissidents into jail, denying people human rights and democracy and creating a food crisis. It was the body's first such meeting on Myanmar.
The United States and other Western nations have mounted an unsuccessful campaign to put Myanmar formally on the agenda of the Security Council, which could lead to resolutions of condemnation and raise pressure on the Yangon government. 
HUMAN RIGHTS AGENDA
Other countries, including China, Japan, Russia and Algeria, oppose this, saying the council is intruding in areas beyond its mandate of international peace and security. They say human rights abuses in Myanmar are being handled by other UN bodies, such as the General Assembly.
Razali said that despite such efforts, Myanmar would figure in Security Council deliberations, even if not in a formal way.
``There will be a strong effort by countries like China and others to prevent this from happening, but it may go in that direction ... though I don't think in terms of a proper, formal thing,'' he said.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has also stepped up criticism of the junta for failing to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other dissidents and for not moving toward a more democratic system.
Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, was the most recent to weigh in, saying last week that Myanmar's foot-dragging had hurt stability across the region.
Myanmar on Friday put off a planned visit by an ASEAN delegation to assess democratic reforms. It said the government was too busy moving to a new administrative capital, Pyinmana, in jungle-clad mountains 200 miles north of Yangon.