Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, which won elections in 1990 by a landslide but was denied power by the military, opted out of the talks May 14 after the junta refused to free Suu Kyi and NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo from a year of house arrest.

The junta hails the forum, which is meant to draw up the constitution Myanmar does not have, as a key step in its "road map to democracy" and said it would have to proceed without Suu Kyi in the interests of national unity.

Facing Western sanctions and diplomatic pressure to free Suu Kyi, who was arrested last May after clashes between pro-government and NLD supporters, Yangon created the road map and decided to restart the convention, abandoned in 1996 after an NLD walkout. The junta says the convention will resume with the same six objectives that prompted the NLD to walkout of the first talks. One of the objectives calls "for the military to play a leading role in the national politics of the future state."

The Japan Times Weekly: May 22, 2004
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