Myanmar announces democracy roadmap

Myanmar's military government announced a seven-point roadmap towards democracy yesterday that includes "free and fair" elections to be held under a new constitution.

"Free and fair elections will be held based on a new constitution spelled out by the national constitutional convention," newly installed Prime Minister Khin Nyunt said in his first speech since being appointed five days ago.

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Khin Nyunt, who was appointed prime minister by Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe, gave no timeframe for the elections or for what he described as the "seven-point roadmap for democracy."

But he said the first step of the plan, the re-convening of a constitutional convention suspended in 1996 following a boycott by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), should be done "as soon as possible."

The process leading to national elections to form a "government of elected members" would start with the drafting and passage of a new constitution, he said.

Myanmar has been ruled for the past four decades by the military, which in 1990 refused to recognise national elections that gave a landslide victory to democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party.

In late 1995, after the Nobel peace laureate's first period under house arrest, the NLD refused to join a new session of the national convention to draft the constitution.

The junta shortly afterwards suspended the convention, which the NLD had rejected as unrepresentative.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held in detention since May, was mentioned just twice in the 80-minute speech, once when Khin Nyunt denounced her party for walking out on the convention.

Khin Nyunt, whom foreign governments and diplomats in Yangon consider the most accessible and reform-minded figure in the regime, is seen a moderate among a coterie of hardline military men.

He was charged with managing a United Nation-sponsored reconciliation process with Aung San Suu Kyi which broke down in May when she was arrested after her supporters were attacked by a pro-junta mob during a political tour.

In what was almost certainly a jibe at Washington, Khin Nyunt took the opportunity to blast outside interference in Myanmar's political affairs.

"The dialogue between the NLD and the SPDC collapsed due to external pressure and the NLD's subsequent refusal to collaborate with the military," he said in the speech addressed to the cabinet and media representatives among other invited guests.

"If any superpower continues to bully us, there will be regional unrest. External pressures will only distance us from democracy."

The speech, which may prove to be a landmark in the junta's self-proclaimed path towards a "disciplined democracy," came just two days after new US sanctions came into effect against Myanmar, including a ban on all imports from the impoverished country.

Witnesses said Khin Nyunt, who also has a key role as Myanmar's chief of military intelligence, was dressed in full military uniform for his 80-minute address at Parliament House.

Guests said he appeared confident as he delivered his comments to an audience that also included members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), military commanders and representatives from local and foreign non-governmental organisations.