Ban Ki-moon speaks in Burma

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon still does not know if he will meet political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi following talks with Burma's top general. On a two-day trip to Burma, Mr Ban was hoping to persuade junta supremo Than Shwe to free all political prisoners and ensure next year's elections are credible. "I'm going to discuss and urge them for the release of all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi," he said. "I'm also going to urge them to prepare a groundwork conducive to a credible election next year, 2010." But after a meeting that lasted almost two hours with the junta leader in Burma's remote new capital, Naypyidaw, Ban said he was still waiting for an answer to his request to meet the country's most famous prisoner. The Nobel laureate, 64, was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by allowing an American intruder to stay at her home in May, which prosecutors say breached a security law designed to thwart "subversive elements". Critics say the charges are trumped up and that the trial is an attempt to keep Suu Kyi out of the way for the elections, expected to entrench nearly half a century of army rule.

» More on this story... «

ITN | July 3, 2009

Tags:. .elements. .attempt. .lasted. .shwe. .thwart