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US Officials to Meet Junta, Opposition Leaders

By LAWI WENG Saturday, October 31, 2009
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A US delegation led by two senior officials will meet Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other executive members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) next week, a spokesperson for the party confirmed.

The US State Department reported on Friday that Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy, Scot Marciel, will be in Burma on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet Burmese junta officials, detained Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and ethnic leaders.

US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell (Photo: Getty Images)
“Our executive committee members have already prepared what to discuss when they come. We were told that they will meet us on Nov. 4 at our headquarters,” party spokesman Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Saturday, adding that arrangements for the meeting were made by the US embassy in Rangoon.

According to Nyan Win, the US officials will hold a separate meeting with Suu Kyi. Another NLD source said that the delegation had requested permission from the Burmese regime to meet with Suu Kyi in her home instead of in a government guest house, where she usually meets with diplomats.

It will be the first visit to Burma by a senior delegation from the US State Department in more than a decade. The last senior US official to travel to the country was Madeleine Albright, who visited in 1995 when she was the US ambassador to the United Nations.

The US delegation is likely to meet Science and Technology Minister U Thaung, who is a former ambassador to Washington, during the trip. Campbell met him in New York in late September, soon after the US announced its new policy of engagement with the Burmese regime. However, he is unlikely to meet junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe.

The topics of the meetings with the military regime will probably include US sanctions on Burma, the junta’s planned election in 2010 and the participation of Suu Kyi and opposition groups in the election.

Nyan Win said the NLD welcomes the trip, but doesn’t expect it to result in any major changes. “We believe this is just first step,” he said.

Suu Kyi’s lawyer, Kyi Win, said on Thursday that she is “keenly monitoring” the planned visit.

After a policy review by the Obama administration, the US State Department announced in September that the US will have direct engagement with the Burmese junta, but will keep sanctions in place.

The junta has shown signs of willingness to engage in dialogue with the US and has also acknowledged that Suu Kyi should be involved in efforts to resolve Burma’s political problems.

Last week, at the Asean Summit in Thailand, Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein said that Suu Kyi had a “role to play” in the country’s national reconciliation efforts and in reaching a political resolution.

Suu Kyi has met with Burmese Labor Minister Aung Kyi, the junta’s liaison officer in charge of meeting with the opposition leader, twice since she sent a letter to Than Shwe expressing a desire to work together with the government to help lift sanctions. She was also allowed to meet with diplomats from the US, UK and Australia to discuss their countries’ sanctions policies.



COMMENTS (9)
 
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Tide Wrote:
03/11/2009
Hey senior citizens at NLD!

Be prepared to take pressure from the U.S. They are going to meet you and pressure you to accept the military's arrangement of the upcoming elections. I am sure Daw Suu can't simply reject the pressure from her admirers, i.e. Americans and Westerners.

Can't wait to see their visit to Daw Suu and her party.

Long live the Myanmar military. I never thought the military would be needed for this long. But the circumstances tell me that the military is still needed for many more years to come.
Cheers!

mmib Wrote:
02/11/2009
It is too difficult to say what the Junta wants. One is sure that they don't want to lose power. If the states really want to help the democratization of Burma, the US Administration must train many journalists and lawyers of the young generation from Burma. It is the best preparation for the after junta-Suu Kyi era.

George Than Setkyar Heine Wrote:
01/11/2009
"The topics of the meetings with the military regime will probably include US sanctions on Burma, the junta’s planned election in 2010 and the participation of Suu Kyi and opposition groups in the election".
There is nothing for the people of Burma in the US delegation's agenda, I see.

Campbell has no call to talk about sanctions nor 2010 elections and much less Daw Suu and opposition groups to vy for the thankless job, help place the crown on the monk murderer's head and legitimize his otherwise illegal rule until eternity.

A US senator of Campbell's stature - elected and holding a powerful position in the US administration - seeing only a lowly lackey in place of Than Shwe himself - only a monk murderer representing nobody other than death itself - is tantamount to a snub if not an outright insult.

Zo Khup Wrote:
01/11/2009
This blah blahs will last at least another three years, and when a new US administration come there will be another drama again.

That's all.

Only the forces from the border can make a change in Burma. Until all the people of Burma support the real fighting people, there will be no change in Burma.

plan B Wrote:
01/11/2009
The NLD and anyone with a tinge of BUrmese blood must realize that:
A "Reward & Punishment" concept approach to a country's government behavior is a very demeaning concept.

The West should realize how the intended party of that concept will view an offer which might seems beyond generous to the giver but insulting to the recipient.

Even by Western standard, depriving the right to engage in commerce then offering that same right as a reward for the failure of the initial deprivation sound outright hypocritical if not overbearing.

The West should be mindful of "put yourself in the other's shoes". As such, can the West hopefully achieve a measure of success previously so lacking, that will require the SPDC to reckon with the same adage with the people as the beneficiaries that they obviously have not done enough for so long?

Jim O'Brien Wrote:
01/11/2009
The junta is preparing for the US mission's arrival by arresting journalists and activists.

What kind of behavior is this?

The jailed Burmese-born US citizen Kyaw Zaw Lwin is being subjected to a sham trial.

Junta apologists meeting in DC barely finished their closed and open door meetings at SAIS on Oct 29 and Oct 30th.

This is called "The Burmese Way" of doing things.

"Funny" except so many people are tortured and killed.

MoeKyaShweKo Wrote:
01/11/2009
Your article is very informative but Burma's
problem is not so easy to solve with the visiting of the American gentlemen into the country. Ours is too deep for all of of us to solve it merely in the short term.I think the shifting power of our country
towards the righteous path depends upon the
Tatmadaw men. They are the
money-makers in the proxy of the cause of all
walks of peoples—shameful! They all are cowards, opportunists.

Harold Cribb Wrote:
31/10/2009
The visit by US senior officials to Burma is welcome news. But, as everyone knows, it definitely is not going to mean sudden change. It also is important to note that meeting with ethnic leaders is included in their schedule. However, if they meet only with ethnic leaders selected by the junta it is totally useless. There are ethnic leaders outside the country who really gave up everything to fight for the rights of their respective ethnic groups. If they are not included, the meetings won't mean anything.

Myint Thein,Dallas Wrote:
31/10/2009
Senior US diplomats should meet ASSK at her residence since meetings at the Government Guest House are secretly videotaped by the Burmese military junta.
Last month Than Shwe asked senior USDA officials in Rangoon if they could win in free and fair elections. The generals are beginning to realize that the release of ASSK, Min Ko Naing and all the political prisoners, and their full and complete participation in free and fair elections are needed to improve relations with the US. Many junior generals do not want Burma to become a Chinese colony. If this serious concern is not addressed by Than Shwe, they will be forced to remove Than Shwe by any means possible.





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