Holding elections without an "inclusive political dialogue" risks exacerbating violence in Myanmar, the UN envoy warned Saturday, a day after he met in Geneva with an opposition government official.
Less than ten days before the end of his mission, on June 12, the UN envoy for Burma, Noeleen Heyzer, said he met Friday in the Swiss city "the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government of National Unity Zin Mar Aung".
On this occasion, the UN official "warned against the military's current attempts to undermine democratic institutions and processes, such as the dissolution of opposition parties," according to the statement.
She stressed that "the elections proposed by the army risk exacerbating violence in the absence of an inclusive political dialogue and conditions allowing citizens to freely exercise their rights".
The UN envoy also called on the international community "to consult widely and listen to the inhabitants of the conflict-affected areas, especially women and young people".
Burma has been riven by a violent conflict between the junta and its opponents since the February 1, 2021 coup, which toppled elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, now in prison, following accusations of electoral fraud in the previous year's elections.
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The junta has instructed the electoral commission to hold new elections that opponents say cannot be free or fair. The commission dissolved Suu Kyi's party, the "National League for Democracy Party," for failing to comply with strict new election rules drawn up by the military.
Noeleen Heyzer, criticized by the junta in power as by the opponents, will leave in a few days the post she held for a year and a half, without the UN having given the reasons for her departure.
In August, she visited Burma and met junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and other officials, drawing criticism from human rights groups.
It then aroused the displeasure of the junta, which criticized it for having issued a statement too one-sided on their discussions.