Asean envoy to Myanmar says he wants full access when he visits

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Brunei diplomat appointed by a Southeast Asian regional bloc as its special envoy to Myanmar said on Saturday he should be given full access to all parties when he visits the strife-torn country, where the military overthrew an elected government.

Speaking a day after his appointment by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Brunei's Erywan Yusof gave no date for his visit to Myanmar, whose civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials have been detained since the Feb 1 coup.

Erywan has been tasked with overseeing humanitarian aid, ending violence in Myanmar and opening dialogue between the military rulers and opponents, whose protests and civil disobedience campaign have provoked an iron-fisted response.

"The planned visit to Myanmar is in the pipeline, and what we need to do is make sure we're well prepared when we go there, unlike the visit I had in June," Erywan, Brunei's Second Foreign Affairs Minister told reporters in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the tiny sultanate on the island of Borneo.