Myanmar: US envoy meets Suu Kyi, PM

Yangon, Nov 4: The most senior US official held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday, Nov 4, after the ruling junta allowed the detained Nobel laureate to make a rare public appearance.

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell also met Myanmar's prime minister.

Campbell is the highest ranking US official to travel to Myanmar since Madeleine Albright went as US ambassador to the United Nations in 1995 during Bill Clinton's presidency.

Suu Kyi has spent most of the last two decades in detention. The most recent period of her house arrest began in 2003 after pro-junta forces launched a deadly attack on her convoy during a political campaign.

US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said, "Overnight that the current visit was the first step, or I guess I should say the second step in the beginning of a dialogue with Burma."

When asked what Campbell discussed on Tuesday, Nov 3, in talks with the information minister and local organisations, Kelly said, "They laid out the way we see this relationship going forward, how we should structure this dialogue, but they were mainly in a listening mode."

Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, has said, "The visit is the start of direct engagement between the US and Myanmar government but added that the party was not expecting any big change."

OneIndia News