Burma’s main opposition party and several ethnic groups have yet to be invited to attend the National Convention, despite a junta announcement yesterday that the convention would reconvene on May 17, opposition and ethnic representatives said today from Rangoon.

The National Convention to draft a new constitution is the first step of Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt’s seven-step road map to democratic reform in Burma. The convention was first convened in 1993 but adjourned in 1996, shortly after the National League for Democracy, or NLD, opposition party walked out, calling the proceedings undemocratic.

An NLD central executive member and a top ethnic leader said on the phone this afternoon from Rangoon that they had not received any invitation from the junta to attend the convention.

The junta’s statement read that "invitations will be sent to the delegates to the convention in time."

"They [the military leaders] have said, when visiting foreign countries, that the NLD will be involved in the convention," said Nyunt Wai, one of nine NLD central executive members.

Even if the junta invites the opposition, it is not certain if it would attend, said Nyunt Wai. He added that the executive committee, including Aung San Suu Kyi, will have to discuss the matter first. He also said that without the NLD, the landslide winner of the 1990 election, the convention could not be considered successful.

Yesterday, the US said that without the release and full participation of Suu Kyi and other detained members of her party it could not endorse the convention.

Four top NLD members, including Suu Kyi and vice-chairman Tin Oo, have been detained since a government-orchestrated mob attacked their convoy in May at Depayin, Sagaing Division.

UN envoy to Burma Razali Imail said recently that Suu Kyi could be released in mid-April. Hkun Htun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, or SNLD, agreed, saying she could be released after the Burmese New Year, in just over two weeks.

Hkun Htun Oo did not comment on the convention or whether the SNLD would attend, but said he would wait until Suu Kyi is released before reaching a decision. He added that ethnic groups in Rangoon have not yet received any invitation to the convention.

Some Western diplomats in Rangoon have encouraged opposition groups to attend the convention. "They suggest we participate in the convention and quit only if we find out that the convention is the same as before," Hkun Htun Oo said.

He cautioned, however, that his participation is contingent upon the junta changing the proceedings of the convention which favor the military.