The United Nations special envoy on Myanmar declared Monday that she will not visit the Southeast Asia nation again unless its military government allows her to meet with ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The envoy, Noeleen Heyzer of Singapore, also warned of the "tragic reality that large numbers of people will be forced to flee" Myanmar in search of safety, and that the international community must help provide them with humanitarian assistance.
Speaking at a seminar in Singapore organized by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, a Southeast Asian studies research center, Heyzer described her assignment as part of "broader efforts by the United Nations to urgently support an effective and peaceful Myanmar-led political pathway to return to civilian rule based on the will and the needs of the people."
So far Suu Kyi, 77, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, including a three-year term with hard labor imposed last week for alleged election fraud. The army attempted to justify its takeover by claiming that a November 2020 general election, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won by a landslide, was rife with irregularities, an allegation strongly challenged by election observers.
"In response to my request to meet State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the senior general indicated the possibility of a meeting eventually. I am now very concerned about her health and well-being, and condemn her sentencing to hard labor," Heyzer said Monday. The UN estimates that 14.4 million people, one-fourth of Myanmar's population -- many of them displaced from their homes by warfare -- require humanitarian assistance.
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