Myanmar to resume constitution meeting on October. 10

YANGON, Sep 9 (Reuters) Myanmar's military rulers will reconvene a constitution-drafting convention on October. 10 after a 10-month recess and amid US efforts to launch a debate on Yangon's authoritarian rule at the UN Security Council.

State television today quoted Lieutenant General Thein Sein as saying more than 1,000 delegates, most of them handpicked by the regime, should report to the convention venue outside the capital Yangon by October. 7.

Thein Sein, who is overseeing the convening of the convention, said the next session would include discussions on the role of the armed forces, and the fundamental rights and responsibilities of citizens.

The military has run the Southeast Asian nation under various guises since 1962 and the current group of generals have been in power since 1988.

The junta says the convention is key to a seven-stage ''roadmap to democracy'' laid out in 2003 by former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, who was purged in October 2004.

Western governments, analysts and diplomats say it is nothing but a smokescreen to preserve the generals' grip on power, especially while opposition figures such as Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remain under house arrest.

Critics point to a key objective of the convention which ensures a ''leadership role'' for the army in politics.

The military started the national convention process in early 1993 but never committed to a schedule to conclude the exercise boycotted by major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

On Friday, Yangon condemned the United States for asking the UN Security Council earlier this month to deal with Myanmar, whose junta government has jailed opponents, persecuted minorities and sent refugees fleeing into neighbouring states.

''Everybody knows that the US government has been downgrading its political, economic and social relations with Myanmar since September 1988 with intent to Americanise Myanmar and to set up a puppet government there,'' a commentary in state-run newspapers said.

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