Myanmar monks and students yesterday urged UN chief Ban Ki-moon to “recognise the ineffectiveness” of his diplomatic approach to the military-ruled nation following his recent unsuccessful visit.
The Secretary General left the country empty-handed in early July after the junta rejected his request to see jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces an internationally condemned trial for violating her house arrest rules.
During his visit, Ban pressed junta head Senior General
Than Shwe to free political prisoners in the country formerly known as Burma, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and called for elections scheduled for 2010 to be free and fair.
Three Myanmar opposition groups said Ban should “stop expecting” the ruling generals to respond positively to his calls.
The Thailand-based All Burma Monks’ Alliance, jointly with the All Burma Federation of Student Unions and the 88 Generation Students, said Ban’s mandate was “not strong enough” to make the junta
 to agree to his requests.
“We urge you to recognise the ineffectiveness of the current diplomatic approach without the strong backing from the UN Security Council with a binding
resolution to deal with Burma’s military regime,” they said.
The letter added that “it would be wrong for you to mislead the international
 community by saying that the military regime will consider your proposals seriously”.
Meanwhile in Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers said they were preparing final
arguments for the resumption of her trial at Insein prison on July 24.
She faces up to five years in jail if convicted of violating her house arrest rules, after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home in May.
“We have asked permission to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi tomorrow to show her our second draft of the final argument,” her lawyer and
 National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said. He said the 64-year-old had already amended their first draft, adding: “We are trying our best according to the law and our point of view.”
She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention since the regime refused to recognise the NLD’s landslide victory in the country’s last elections, in 1990. AFP