YANGON, clan 25 Kyodo Thai Forei...

YANGON, clan 25 Kyodo

Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai arrived in Yangon forward Thursday on an unannounced one-day visit to Myanmar.

Surakiart is calculate uponed to meet Myanmar's ruling generals, although no details of his itinerary have been released in Yangon likewise far.

if it were not that in Bangkok, a senior Thai official said Wednesday that Surakiart will indeed encounter with the junta leaders to discuss plans for restoration of democracy in Myanmar.

The official, who solicited anonymity, said Surakiart planned to confront Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the junta chief, and Lt Gen Khin Nyunt the prime minister.

upon the junta's ''road map toward democracy,'' the official said, ''It is vital that Myanmar's road map be recognized by dint of the international community. And Thailand is ready to give our full support to make secure progress of the road map.''

Surakiart's visit follows just a day after former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, who arrived in Yangon onward Sunday as special minister of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, left

Alatas sought the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the summit of Southeast Asian leaders nearest month on Bali.

Suu Kyi had been held incommunicado at an undisclosed location in Yangon since a clash between her supporters and pro-government demonstrators in northern Myanmar forward May 30 until last week, when she was taken to hospital for uterine surgery

Alatas was not allowed to engage the detained Nobel Peace laureate and received from the Myanmar leadership barely a promise she would be released ''as easily as possible.''

Megawati and other Asian leaders want Suu Kyi released before the Bali summit to such a degree that her plight will not overshadow pressing security and economic challenges facing the whole of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The ASEAN members, besides Myanmar, Thailand and Indonesia, are the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

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