June 7, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 6, 1424

YANGON, June 6: UN envoy Razali Ismail arrived in Myanmar on Friday to seek a meeting with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, hours after Washington said she had been the victim of a “premeditated ambush” by a mob linked to the ruling military junta.

Mr Razali said he believed he had a “realistic chance” of seeing the Nobel peace laureate, who was placed in “protective custody” a week ago after violent clashes between her supporters and a junta-backed mob that left dozens dead.

Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in a military camp 40 kilometres outside the capital. Sources have said she sustained non-life threatening head injuries when her car windscreen was shattered during the melee.

“Everybody is hoping that this visit will result at the very least in me being allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi and to make a strong bid to get her released immediately,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur before his departure.

“There is a realistic chance. I think the government can be persuaded to allow me to see her because basically they should really help themselves by allowing me to see her, given all the misgivings people have about them.”

Myanmar’s deputy foreign minister Khin Maung Win and diplomats greeted Razali on his arrival in Yangon.

His visit comes a day after US embassy officials visited the site of the May 30 violence in northern Myanmar, US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement from Washington.

“Their findings indicate that there was a premeditated ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade. Circumstances and reports from individuals in the region indicate that the attack was conducted by government-affiliated thugs.”

The US has led an outpouring of international outrage over the famed democracy icon’s detention and accompanying crackdown on her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The military government has officially blamed the attacks on the actions of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, whom they allege violated traffic regulations and frightened local people.

To coincide with Razali’s arrival Friday the English-language New Light of Myanmar published a detailed account of its version of events in the lead up to the clashes, in which Aung San Suu Kyi is left unnamed but referred to as “the pro-democracy female leader”.

“If they really cherished democracy, they should have avoided and refrained from committing such acts and (anti-government) speeches which could create unrest and riots,” the military government’s mouthpiece said.

Official sources said Razali was scheduled Friday for a briefing by Brigadier-General Than Tun, the head of the office of the chief of military intelligence’s political department, and Colonel Hla Min, from the ministry of defence’s international affairs department.

He was then expected to meet with Foreign Minister Win Aung, the sources said, adding that he would likely meet Home Affairs Minister Tin Hlaing on Saturday.

A source close to the national reconciliation talks said the junta has not indicated whether it would permit the special envoy of UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to see Aung San Suu Kyi during his five-day visit.

He said a meeting with junta number three Khin Nyunt was agreed but as yet unscheduled.

“The programme could be modified according to developments,” he said.

Mr Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, is credited with brokering the secret talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta that began in October 2000 and are aimed at shifting Myanmar towards democracy.

Razali made his last mission in November last year. He left admitting he was disappointed over the slow progress in reviving the dialogue. —AFP