U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday praised opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's efforts to advance democracy in Myanmar,
supporting her decision to take the oath of office for the country's
parliament despite objecting to its wording.
Expressing his admiration
for Suu Kyi at a news conference at her lakeside residence in Yangon,
Ban said the process to improve democracy and human rights in Myanmar
might be "difficult" but that there should be "no turning back."
He also said he had
invited Suu Kyi, who endured years of house arrest under the country's
military rulers, to visit the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Standing alongside him, Suu Kyi said that while she would like to make such a trip, she hadn't given a "definite date" yet.
She is already due to
visit Norway in June to make a belated acceptance speech for the Nobel
Peace Prize she was prevented from collecting in 1991 because she was in
detention.
Ban voiced
approval for the climbdown this week by Suu Kyi and other newly elected
opposition members from their insistence that the parliamentary be
reworded.
Acknowledging that it
"must have been a very difficult decision," he said he believed that
"real leaders demonstrate flexibility for the greater cause."
Suu Kyi also appeared to defend the decision, echoing Ban's choice of words.
"We have always believed
in flexibility in the political process," she said, adding that it was
the only way to achieve the movement's goal without violence.
The impasse over the
oath had been preventing her and other newly elected members of her
party from taking their seats in the legislature.
She and 42 other members of her party, the National League for Democracy, were elected in by-elections last month.
The NLD had asked the
authorities to amend the oath to say that members will "abide by" the
constitution rather than "protect" it. Party members want to revise the
constitution, which they view as undemocratic.
But the government of
President Thein Sein, a former military official, didn't appear to show
any sign of moving to accommodate the request.
Suu Kyi said Monday that
she would "take an oath for the country and for the people." She added
that she had been urged to enter parliament by some parliament members
and representatives of Myanmar's ethnic minority groups.
Asked whether she was concerned she may appear weak by backing down over the oath, Suu Kyi said, "I don't care."
Nyan Win, a spokesman
for the NLD, said Suu Kyi will attend parliament in the capital,
Naypyidaw, on Wednesday for "just one day."
Before his meeting with Suu Kyi, Ban met with top officials, including Thein Sein, on Monday and offered U.N. support.
The international
organization is available to provide technical assistance for Myanmar's
first census in 2014 and lend its electoral expertise in the run-up to
the 2015 elections, the United Nations said.
Ban is the latest in a
string of high-profile officials to visit the country as it emerges from
decades of international isolation.
Myanmar's authoritarian
military rulers are loosening their grip on power after decades of
stifling dissent and limiting freedoms.
In the past 12 months,
the government has pardoned hundreds of political prisoners, secured a
cease-fire with Karen rebels and agreed to negotiate with other ethnic
rebel groups.
The success of Suu Kyi
and her party at the by-elections was welcomed by the United States and
European Union as a sign of progress toward democracy.
The dispute over the wording of the oath appeared to create an early stumbling block in that process.
But Suu Kyi said last week that she did not want the issue to become "political," insisting that it was a "technical" problem.
Her arrival in
parliament on Wednesday will illustrate the pace at which Myanmar is
changing: She was released from house arrest less than a year and a half
ago.
Control of parliament
will not change despite the opposition's strong performance, but the
entry of the NLD members will nonetheless give the party a notable
presence.
Myanmar's legislature
has 664 seats, more than 80% of which are still held by lawmakers
aligned with the military-backed ruling group, the Union Solidarity and
Development Party.
Many Western governments
have taken steps to ease sanctions on Myanmar, also known as Burma, in
response to its political reforms. But international officials have also
cautioned that the country still has a long way to go.
Speaking last week ahead of his trip, the United Nations' Ban said that Myanmar's "fresh start is still fragile."
Source: CNN News