Myanmar resumes constitution drafting talks

NYAUNG HNA PIN, Myanmar - Myanmar's military rulers resumed long drawn out talks on a new constitution on Tuesday, their government under increasing international pressure and cynicism rife about their aims.

A constitution is the first step on Myanmar's seven-step "road map to democracy" and one Western diplomat expected the National Convention forging it to wrap up after its fourth session since 2004.

But the junta, which picked most of the 1000 or more delegates to the National Convention, refuses to set a timetable for the "road map" announced in 2003.

"A timeframe is not important to us. What is important is implementation," Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told reporters as the convention got under way at the tightly guarded Nyaung Hna Pin camp 40km north of Yangon.

But with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and her National League for Democracy boycotting the talks, critics dismiss the convention as a smokescreen for the military to entrench its more than four decades of rule.

A final constitution could be drafted over the next year or so and be followed by a referendum among grass roots groups favourable to the generals, the diplomat said.

The military, which has run the South-East Asian nation in various guises since 1962, will focus this session on rules for political parties, elections and "provisions for the transition period", Chief Justice Aung Toe told reporters on Monday.

But critics and diplomats point to a key objective of the convention that ensures a "leadership role" for the army, known as the Tatmadaw, in politics.

- REUTERS