SECRETARY GENERAL BAN'S TRIP TO BURMA

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 053071

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/19/2018
TAGS: PREL PHUM UNSC BM
SUBJECT: SECRETARY GENERAL BAN'S TRIP TO BURMA

Classified By: IO DAS Brian Hook, E.O. 12958
Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) ACTION REQUEST: During a scheduled meeting with
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on May 19, USUN is asked to
stress our support for Ban's announced trip to Burma later
this week and to strongly recommend that he not only push to
see senior members of the Regime and visit UN operations in
affected areas in the Delta, but also be allowed to meet with
Aung San Suu Kyi. End Action request.


2. Objectives
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-- Indicate that we welcome and strongly support Ban's
announced visit to Burma this week.

-- Press for a UN assessment team to be sent to Burma with
broad access to all storm-devastated areas in advance of
Ban's visit, so he will have reliable information available
during his meetings.

-- Emphasize that the key to establishing effective relief
for Cyclone Nargis victims is access by international aid
teams to conduct assessments as well as outside logistical
support needed to provide aid in a timely and effective
fashion, particularly in the worst-hit areas of the Irrawaddy
Delta. Recommend that Ban push to visit UN operations in
affected areas in the Delta.

-- Urge Ban to press strongly to be allowed to see Aung San
Suu Kyi while he is there. If the regime allows Ban's
Special Advisor to see ASSK, there is no reason they should
prevent Ban from doing so and thus provide him with less
access than they have Gambari.


3. Follow-up
--------------

USUN is requested to report the outcome of the meeting with
SYG Ban as soon as possible to IO/UNP (Paul Wickberg) and
EAP/MLS (Aaron Cope).


4. Background
--------------

SYG Ban has publicly stated that since Cyclone Nargis struck
the Irrawaddy Delta area and Rangoon on May 2-3, he has been
unable to reach senior members of the Burmese regime by
phone. Ban announced he intends to visit Burma and Thailand
this week and that he will co-host with the Burmese
government a May 25 International Pledging Conference at the
foreign minister level in Rangoon. Meanwhile, Senior General
Than Shwe has emerged from his isolation in Naypidaw to visit
a few cyclone-ravaged areas, and ASEAN foreign ministers held
a closed meeting in Singapore earlier on May 19 and announced
an ASEAN-led mechanism to work with the UN and other
international and regional agencies to assist Burma in its
relief and reconstruction efforts. Department believes this
presents a crucial opportunity for Ban to press for entry of
a UN assessment team; for opening all storm-devastated areas
to international aid teams in addition to increasingly
exhausted local NGO and other Burmese aid providers; and for
a visit to ASSK. The latter would not be meant to politicize
the aid effort but simply to show that she is not being
forgotten.
RICE