Veteran Indian diplomat Nambiar, 66, took over the position of Ibrahim Gambari, the former UN special envoy to Burma, who failed to produce tangible results during his several missions to Burma.
Nambiar has been the chief of staff under Ban since January 1, 2007, and was previously under-secretary-general and special adviser to former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, the chairman of Arakan League for Democracy, Aye Tha Aung, said he does not think the envoy's meeting with the Singaporean government will bear any fruit as Singapore is a prominent member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which has a policy of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
“Singapore is one of the Asean members that strongly supports the non-inference policy,”said Aye Tha Aung.
Nambiar is currently visiting Asian nations in his capacity as Ban’s special adviser on Burma. He held talks with Indian officials, including Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, in New Delhi before arriving in Singapore on Wednesday.
He is scheduled to fly to Beijing on Friday for discussions with Chinese authorities, according to the press release.
Two days after Cyclone Nargis slammed southwestern Burma on May 2-3, 2008, Nambiar met with Burmese Ambassador to the UN Kyaw Tint Swe and discussed grant allocations from the US $500-million Central Emergency Response Fund.
After the meeting, the military junta agreed to begin airlifting relief material and lifesaving drugs to the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta.
Prior to joining the UN, Nambiar served the Indian government as head of the National Security Council Secretariat, and in 2002-04 was India's permanent representative to the UN in New York.
Nambiar also served as Indian ambassador to Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Afghanistan and Algeria. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1976, and replaced Gambari in late December 2009.
Ban announced in early December 2009 that Gambari would be reassigned as a joint special representative of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur, a position he took up in January.
Earlier this year, Ban called for “fair, transparent and credible elections” in Burma. Some observers have said they expect the Burmese general election to be held on Oct. 10.
Meanwhile, at the ongoing 14th session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, Slovakia announced that it will support the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity conducted by the Burmese military regime, according to a report by the UN human rights council.
Slovakia became the fourth government to support the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burma along with the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Australia.
The United States said it is also considering its support for the Commission of Inquiry.
The US representative, Ambassador Eileen Donahoe, said that the establishment of a peaceful country that respected human rights of its citizens was essential, and therefore the United States was considering supporting the proposed Commission of Inquiry into possible international humanitarian law violations in Burma, as suggested by UN Special Rapporteur Tomás Ojea Quintana.
Rosha Fedor, the Slovakian representative, however, said the election could have served as a window to national reconciliation, respect for human rights and democracy. However, on the contrary, the new electoral laws fell far below international standards, seriously undermining the right of expression, assembly and association, and discriminated on the basis of political opinions, he said.
