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Myanmar edges toward talks
09/11/2007 11:40 - (SA)
Yangon, Myanmar - Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met on Friday with an official from Myanmar's ruling junta, a session that was expected to precede her first meeting in three years with leaders of her opposition party, a diplomat said.
Suu Kyi - who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years - was driven from her heavily guarded home in a car with tinted windows to a nearby government guest house. An Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Suu Kyi met inside with junta official Aung Kyi.
Aung Kyi was appointed the "minister for relations" with Suu Kyi last month amid global outrage over the regime's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The development came a day after UN envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari ended a six-day mission to broker negotiations between the military regime and pro-democracy leaders. He met with Suu Kyi for an hour on Thursday and released a statement on her behalf after leaving the country.
"In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to co-operate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success," Suu Kyi said in her statement, which Gambari read aloud on Thursday evening in Singapore.
"I am committed to pursue the path of dialogue constructively and invite the government and all relevant parties to join me in this spirit."
After his departure, the junta unexpectedly announced on the state-controlled evening news that Suu Kyi had clearance to meet with party officials from her National League for Democracy.
Suu Kyi's statement was apparently her first since her latest detention began in 2003. She has not seen fellow executives of her opposition party since May 2004.
Authorities in Myanmar say the junta's September 26-27 crackdown on pro-democracy protests killed 10 people, though diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher. Thousands were arrested and the crackdown triggered intense global condemnation.
Extreme scepticism
"We now have a process going which would lead to substantive dialogue" between the government and Suu Kyi, Gambari said in a statement released by the UN.
Initially, there had been doubt that Gambari's trip had made any headway. He was denied a meeting with junta chief Senior Gen Than Shwe. The generals also rejected Gambari's proposal to mediate talks between Suu Kyi and a government representative.
Myanmar experts around the world reacted cautiously to news of Suu Kyi's promised meeting with her party leaders.
"My reaction is extreme scepticism that this will lead to real dialogue between her and the (junta), or genuine political change," said Donald M Seekins, a Myanmar expert at Meio University in Japan. "The (junta) likes to move Suu Kyi and the NLD around like pieces on a chessboard, to satisfy the international community."
Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 general election, but the military refused to cede power, saying a new constitution had to be adopted first. It is still in the process of writing one.
"So far, she is holding out an olive branch calling for good will on all sides," said Myanmar scholar, Josef Silverstein, a retired professor from Rutgers University. "But there is much to clarify."
Several potential roadblocks stand in the way of further progress. The junta gave no indication it plans to free Suu Kyi or more than 1 100 other political prisoners, a major demand of the world community.
Suu Kyi said nothing about accepting conditions set by Than Shwe before he will meet with her. These included her renouncing any support for economic sanctions imposed by foreign countries because of the junta's failure to turn over power to a democratically elected government.
Friday's meeting between Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi was the second since his appointment in the aftermath of the September crackdown.
- AP
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