NAYPYIDAW: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged the head of Myanmar’s military junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi, but the regime stalled on his request to meet the jailed pro-democracy leader.

Mr Ban, however, looked set to have a second chance at persuading iron-fisted ruler Than Shwe after the UN announced that they would have a second, unscheduled meeting on the second and final day of his visit on Saturday.

The UN chief met Than Shwe in Naypyidaw, the regime’s remote stronghold, shortly after a prison court again adjourned the widely condemned trial of Aung San Suu Kyi on charges of violating her house arrest.

‘I told him that I wanted to meet her in person. He told me that she is on trial, but I told him this is my proposal, this is important and I am waiting for their consideration and reply,’ Mr Ban said after two hours of talks. ‘I am leaving tomorrow, so logically speaking I am waiting for a reply before my departure,’ he added.

Than Shwe appeared in his olive green military uniform at the start of the two-hour meeting in an ornate marble-floored reception hall in the administrative capital, but did not speak.

Ban’s visit had been considered diplomatically risky and rights groups warned that it would be considered a major failure unless he managed to win Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s freedom.

The 64-year-old opposition leader was transferred from house arrest to Yangon’s notorious Insein prison in May on charges of violating her house arrest, after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house.

She has been in detention for most of the past two decades since the junta refused to recognise her party’s victory in the country’s last elections in 1990, and now faces five years’ imprisonment if convicted. Ban said he had also sought the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners that the UN says are held in Myanmar ahead of elections promised by the ruling generals for next year.

‘I proposed and I urged that all political prisoners should be released before this election begins, so that this election can be all inclusive,’ Ban said.

UN officials traveling with Ban later said there had been a ‘very lively exchange of views’ after the UN chief proposed a five-point agenda for democratic reforms in Myanmar.—AFP