US envoy in landmark talks with Suu Kyi
A top US official held talks with Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday as Myanmar's ruling junta gave the democracy icon a rare break from house arrest during Washington's highest-level visit here in 14 years.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell also met Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein as part of efforts by the Obama administration to re-engage with the hardline military regime.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi met Campbell for two hours at a luxury hotel in Yangon -- the first time she had appeared in front of the media other than at her home or in prison since her current period of detention began in 2003.
Campbell said at Yangon airport that in the "exploratory mission" he had underscored "strong support for human rights, the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, and the pursuit of democratic reform."
"We stated clearly that the United States is prepared to take steps to improve the relationship but that process must be based on reciprocal and concrete efforts by the Burmese government," Campbell said in a statement.
The US diplomat said he and his deputy, Scot Marciel, had also urged the regime to let Suu Kyi meet more often with members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) Party ahead of elections that are due in 2010.
The duo were not allowed to meet the reclusive head of Myanmar's junta, General Than Shwe. They instead held talks with Premier Thein Sein in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw.
"They reaffirmed our support for dialogue between the government and the opposition," US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington.
Kelly said Washington had no plans to mediate between the government and the democratic opposition leaders.
"As I say, this is a step-by-step process... This visit was primarily meant to underscore our call for the government to have a dialogue... with the opposition. But we want to see the Burmese government start taking some concrete steps towards such a dialogue."
During the talks with Suu Kyi "we affirmed our commitment to a dialogue among the government, the opposition, and the ethnic groups," Campbell said.
Dressed in a pink and maroon traditional outfit, the 64-year-old Suu Kyi did not answer questions after the meeting with the US duo but smiled to reporters and joked: "Am I beautiful when I smile?"
Suu Kyi has spent most of the last two decades in detention and the junta, which has ruled since 1962, gave her an extra 18 months of house arrest in August, effectively ruling her out of next year's widely criticised elections.
The opposition leader was sentenced after being found guilty of harbouring an American man who swam to her lakeside house earlier in the year. Journalists saw her in prison at the trial but were not allowed to take pictures.
Campbell and Marciel also met senior members of the NLD, which described the talks as "positive".
"We discussed the transition to democracy and focused on the dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior General Than Shwe. From their side they didn't say much. They just listened," NLD spokesman Khin Maung Swe told AFP.
Campbell was the highest ranking US official to travel to Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- since Madeleine Albright went as US ambassador to the United Nations in 1995 during Bill Clinton's presidency.
The trip was a follow-up to discussions in New York in September between US and Myanmar officials, the highest-level US contact with the regime in nearly a decade.
President Barack Obama's administration in September announced a dramatic change in policy because isolating Myanmar had failed, but said it would not ease sanctions without progress on democracy and human rights.
September's talks dealt with US calls for free and fair elections and the release of Suu Kyi, but also with concerns about Myanmar's possible military links with nuclear-armed North Korea.
The first major sign of a thaw came in August when Than Shwe held an unprecedented meeting with visiting US Senator Jim Webb, which yielded the release of John Yettaw, the American detained for swimming to Suu Kyi's house.
Marciel is due to hold a public forum on the mission in Bangkok at 11:00 am (0400 GMT) Thursday.
