U.N. follows developments in Myanmar's National Convention: Ban

NEW YORK, July 18 Kyodo

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is closely following developments after Myanmar convened Wednesday the final session of its 14-year-old National Convention, a spokesperson said in a statement.

''The Secretary-General takes note of the resumption today of Myanmar's National Convention for its final session, as announced by the Government of Myanmar, and is closely following developments.

''The Secretary-General wishes to encourage the Government of Myanmar to seize this opportunity to ensure that this and subsequent steps in Myanmar's political roadmap are as inclusive, participatory and transparent as possible, with a view to allowing all the relevant parties to Myanmar's national reconciliation process to fully contribute to defining their country's future,'' the brief statement said.

Myanmar's junta convened the session in Nyaung Hna Pin, about 40 kilometers north of the former capital Yangon, with over 1,000 delegates attending. It was last held from Oct. 10 to Dec. 29 last year.

During the previous session, the delegates discussed and made suggestions to the remaining seven chapters of the proposed 15-chapter constitution. Detailed basic principles on those seven chapters would be adopted in the current session.

The junta has promised to bring the country back to democracy through a series of reforms based on its so-called ''road map to democracy'' laid out in 2003. Besides the National Convention, it also entails holding a general election to form a democratic government.

The convention got under way in January 1993 but was suspended three years later after Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy, withdrew all NLD delegates, complaining that the composition and procedures of the convention were undemocratic.

The current session is the fifth after the ruling junta resumed the stalled convention on May 17, 2004.

The NLD won 392 out of the 485 seats in the 1990 general election, but was prevented from assuming power.

Myanmar has been without a constitution since 1988, when its 1974 charter was suspended after the military took power.

According to the road map, when the new constitution draft emerges, it will be followed by a national referendum on the constitution, and holding of free and fair elections, but no time frame has been announced.

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