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(AFP) – The freed deputy of Aung San Suu Kyi's party met a UN rights envoy in military-ruled Myanmar Thursday and said the release of the Nobel Peace laureate was vital before elections, the opposition said.UN special rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana held talks in the former capital Yangon with Tin Oo, the elderly vice chairman of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), and six other leading party members.
Myanmar's ruling junta freed 83-year-old Tin Oo from house arrest at the weekend. He was detained along with Suu Kyi in 2003 after a pro-regime mob attacked their motorcade, killing dozens of people."We had a free discussion with him for one hour. We discussed the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," Khin Maung Swe, one of those who attended the meeting with Quintana, told AFP. Daw is a Burmese-language term of respect.
"We also said that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be involved in the future politics and pointed out that (she) should participate in national reconciliation," he said.
Quintana told the NLD members that he had asked to meet Suu Kyi but had had no answer yet from the junta, Khin Maung Swe said.
"He asked us about the election and we said that there was no election law and we haven't met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi so we haven't decided anything yet," he added.
Myanmar's generals have promised to hold elections this year but have not yet set a date, adding to international fears that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the regime's hold on power.The NLD won by a landslide in Myanmar's last national polls in 1990 but the military prevented them from taking power. The latest elections are part of a "roadmap to democracy" announced by the junta.
Suu Kyi has been detained for mostof the last two decades and her house arrest was extended by 18 months in August after an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house.
Among the other NLD members who also attended the meeting with Quintana was Win Tin,a dissident journalist who was Myanmar's longest serving prisoner until his release in September 2008.
The Argentinian diplomat arrived in Yangon Thursday from the northwestern town of Sittwe and went to the notorious Insein Prison, where dozens of dissidents are held.
On Wednesday, Quintana travelled to a prison in Rakhine state on the northwestern border with Bangladesh and met several political prisoners, sources said.
They included Htay Kywe, a prominent student activist serving a 65-year jail sentence for his role in mass protests led by Buddhist monks against the regime in 2007
Myanmar's generals have also continued a crackdown on dissent launed after the protests three years ago. The United Nations says there are around 2,100 political detainees in the country.Quintana is set to travel to the remote new capital Naypyidaw on Friday, the final day of his five-day trip, to meet Foreign Minister Nyan Win and other officials.
The UN envoy is not, however, scheduled to meet reclusive junta leader Than Shwe.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.
Myanmar's ruling junta freed 83-year-old Tin Oo from house arrest at the weekend. He was detained along with Suu Kyi in 2003 after a pro-regime mob attacked their motorcade, killing dozens of people."We had a free discussion with him for one hour. We discussed the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," Khin Maung Swe, one of those who attended the meeting with Quintana, told AFP. Daw is a Burmese-language term of respect.
"We also said that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be involved in the future politics and pointed out that (she) should participate in national reconciliation," he said.
Quintana told the NLD members that he had asked to meet Suu Kyi but had had no answer yet from the junta, Khin Maung Swe said.
"He asked us about the election and we said that there was no election law and we haven't met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi so we haven't decided anything yet," he added.
Myanmar's generals have promised to hold elections this year but have not yet set a date, adding to international fears that the polls are a sham designed to legitimise the regime's hold on power.The NLD won by a landslide in Myanmar's last national polls in 1990 but the military prevented them from taking power. The latest elections are part of a "roadmap to democracy" announced by the junta.
Suu Kyi has been detained for mostof the last two decades and her house arrest was extended by 18 months in August after an incident in which a US man swam to her lakeside house.
Among the other NLD members who also attended the meeting with Quintana was Win Tin,a dissident journalist who was Myanmar's longest serving prisoner until his release in September 2008.
The Argentinian diplomat arrived in Yangon Thursday from the northwestern town of Sittwe and went to the notorious Insein Prison, where dozens of dissidents are held.
On Wednesday, Quintana travelled to a prison in Rakhine state on the northwestern border with Bangladesh and met several political prisoners, sources said.
They included Htay Kywe, a prominent student activist serving a 65-year jail sentence for his role in mass protests led by Buddhist monks against the regime in 2007
Myanmar's generals have also continued a crackdown on dissent launed after the protests three years ago. The United Nations says there are around 2,100 political detainees in the country.Quintana is set to travel to the remote new capital Naypyidaw on Friday, the final day of his five-day trip, to meet Foreign Minister Nyan Win and other officials.
The UN envoy is not, however, scheduled to meet reclusive junta leader Than Shwe.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.