Yangon: Myanmar’s military rulers on Tuesday adjourned constitutional talks until later this year, delegates said, as diplomats in Yangon questioned the junta’s commitment to implementing any democratic reforms.

An ethnic leader and delegate quoted the chairman of the talks, Lieutenant General Thein Sein, as saying: “The National Convention will be resumed at the end of this year.”

The delegate, who declined to be identified, speculated that Thein Sein meant December. Another delegate confirmed that the talks had adjourned, adding they would resume “by the end of the year.”

The junta says the talks on drawing up a new constitution are the first step in its self-proclaimed “road map” to democracy for a nation which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

The talks have been held sporadically for more than a decade but have been condemned internationally for failing to include opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

The NLD has boycotted the talks to demand the release of their leader and of other political prisoners.

“We can say about 80 percent of the national convention is finished,” the ethnic leader said, adding he believed the next session could be the last.

“The other chapters (eight of 15 chapters) that need to be discussed are not very important.”

The Karen National Union, which was not invited to the talks and Tuesday celebrated the 57th anniversary of the start of its uprising against Yangon, dismissed the convention as “fake”.

Diplomats in Yangon voiced disappointment over the lack of progress and questioned whether the military has any political will to introduce democracy.

“They are slowing down (the pace of the talks) and they are not in a hurry to end the first of the seven steps of their own road map” introduced in 2003, a Western diplomat said.

“It’s not good news.”

Another diplomat in Yangon said: “It really raises a question whether the government has a political will to carry out democratic reforms.”

“If they’re not reconvening until the end of the year, I don’t think that’ll be received well within ASEAN as it will mean they’re still on their go-slow timetable,” a third diplomat said.

Under pressure from the international community, the Assocation of Southeast Asian Nations at its annual meeting in December signalled its impatience with fellow member Myanmar.

It reached agreement with Yangon to allow Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar to visit the country as an ASEAN envoy to check on the progress of democracy.

But earlier in January, the junta said it was “too busy” relocating its administrative capital to receive him and no new date has been set.

There are rumours in Yangon that junta leader Than Shwe will in early February officially open all the country’s relocated ministries at a new compound in Pyinmana, a logging town 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of the capital.

Speculation about the reason for the relocation ranges from the government’s fear of a US invasion to astrological predictions and worries over possible urban unrest in Yangon.

The constitutional convention resumed eight weeks ago with some 1,000 handpicked delegates who discussed various topics including details of the military’s role in government and relations between the national, state and division parliaments.

Future sessions are due to debate the rights of citizens, elections, amending the constitution and the national flag, anthem and capital.