NLD LEADERSHIP ON NATIONAL CONVENTION PROCESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001574 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2013 TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV BM NLD SUBJECT: NLD LEADERSHIP ON NATIONAL CONVENTION PROCESS REF: A. STATE 335326 ¶B. RANGOON 1562 Classified By: COM CARMEN M. MARTINEZ FOR REASON 1.5(D). ¶1. (U) The following refers to questions raised in reftel A. ¶2. (C) NLD Central Executive Committee members detailed to the Chief of Mission and Emboffs (reftel B) the minimum steps necessary for the party to resume participation in a National Convention process. (NOTE: In 1995, when the SPDC reportedly violated the procedural ground-rules it itself had set, the NLD presented a list of questions about procedures governing the National Convention and subsequent steps. The SPDC did not reply and the NLD, fearing the SPDC would ramrod the regime's desired outcome down the throats of the Convention's delegates, suspended its participation. END NOTE) CEC members, after voicing the customary deference to the senior party leaders still being incarcerated by the SPDC, told us they thought a response from the SPDC guaranteeing procedural and substantive fairness for all participants would be a minimal starting point for the NLD's participation. ¶3. (C) Post emphasized in explicit terms to the CEC members that military action was not a realistic option. Moreover, we have repeatedly made that point with Burmese interlocutors since we first began hearing calls for outright U.S. military intervention in Burma in March and April -- not coincidentally, just prior to and during the invasion of Iraq. Martinez