NLD Welcomes Meeting of Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi

The main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, welcomes the talks on Thursday between its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the junta’s Minister for Relations, ex Maj-Gen Aung Kyi, according to a spokesperson for the NLD, Nyan Win.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy by telephone on Friday, Nyan Win said that the meeting constituted progress and was the first in a series of dialogues.

“However, we (the NLD) do not know the result of the meeting or what they discussed,” he said. “Before the meetings, we want our leader (Suu Kyi) to be allowed to meet with her colleagues first. She must also be set free.”

On the Thursday evening news, the state media reported the meeting, but only as a commentary over silent video clips.

This morning Burmese were surprised to see a large photograph of Suu Kyi with official liaison Aung Kyi adorning the front pages of the junta’s newspapers. It is very unusual for the military government to permit Suu Kyi’s picture to appear in their “mouthpiece” newspapers. However, today the state media also used her full honorific name, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Although the report was short, it was also notable that Suu Kyi’s name was placed in front of the junta minister’s name, the first time the state media has allowed this style of caption to appear.

Critics, however, contend that the junta has previously served up this kind of concession in the media as a public relations exercise both at home and abroad when they were under pressure.

State-run newspapers, such as The New Light of Myanmar, have previously published Aung San Suu Kyi’s picture on only a couple of occasions—in May 2003, after the security forces brutally attacked Suu Kyi and her supporters in Depayin, Sagaing Division; and once when Snr-Gen Than Shwe met with Suu Kyi in January 2002. However, the article went on to blame Suu Kyi for Burma’s political deadlock and economic collapse.

Meeting Not Enough, says Khalilzad

By Lalit K. Jha / United Nations

The US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, said Thursday that the meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and a Burmese Government official is “a good thing, but not sufficient.”

“We believe that it is very important for (Ibrahim) Gambari, for the special envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Burma, to be involved in these dialogues with regard to reconciliation,” Khalilzad told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York.

Observing that the appointment of Aung Kyi as official liaison with Aung San Suu Kyi was one of Gambari’s proposals, Khalilzad added: “That's a good thing, and the meeting is a good thing, but not sufficient.”

Reiterating the US demand that there is a need for “a full reconciliation process to start, a transition to begin,” Khalilzad said this means that “Aung San Suu Kyi has to be in circumstances where she can consult, meet with her party members, and have informed discussions with the government with regard to the transition.”

“Those circumstances are not there,” the US Ambassador said.

“We are talking through the Secretary-General with the authorities in Burma as to getting Gambari there [to Burma] as quickly as possible. There are some discussions going on regarding exact dates. The US perspective is: the sooner, the better,” he said.

When asked about the letter written by 16 women senators early this week to the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, on the issue of Burma, Khalilzad said the US would like India to use its influence over Burma to sensitize the leaders of the military government to take steps towards the process of reconciliation and the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

The US wants India, which has considerable influence over the military junta because of its relations with Burma, “to use that influence as we want China to do, as we want Asean to do; to encourage the Government, to sensitize the government, to take the steps that we talked about.”

Khalilzad said: “We have been talking to our Indian friends. I have been talking to the (Indian) Ambassador (to the UN) here. There have been conversations taking place between the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister of India. The future of Burma is important. We believe India can play a positive role. That is what we are talking to the Indian Government about.”