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Aung San Suu Kyi meetings may signal easing
Agence France Presse - October 10, 2009
Rangoon – Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party is hoping the pro-democracy leader will soon meet Burma's junta chief, after rare talks with Australian and British diplomats yesterday.
The military-ruled nation's foreign affairs ministry granted permission for the US chief of mission and the heads of the British and Australian embassies to meet the democracy icon, US embassy spokesman Drake Weisert said.
"We are hoping that the Senior General and Aung San Suu Kyi will meet soon," said Nyan Win, her lawyer and spokesman for her National League for Democracy party.
After years of advocating punitive measures against the junta, Ms Suu Kyi's letter marked an easing of her stance, offering suggestions for getting Western sanctions lifted and requesting a meeting with diplomats to discuss this.
"The authorities allowing Daw (a term of respect) Aung San Suu Kyi's request is good – she is getting what she needs," Nyan Win said. "I think they will be discussing mainly the lifting of sanctions. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi wanted to get the facts and figures on Western sanctions."
He said the meeting with diplomats meant the Nobel Laureate "could get chances to do politics, as she is a politician".
Last Saturday and Wednesday she met Burmese Labour Minister Aung Kyi, the official liaison between herself and the junta – the first time they have met for talks since January last year.
The US recently unveiled a major policy shift to re-engage the junta, but has warned against lifting sanctions until there is progress towards democracy, and repeatedly pressed for Suu Kyi's release.
Lawyers for the frail 64-year-old, kept in detention by the ruling generals for much of the past 20 years, say she welcomes US re-engagement.
Her NLD won the last elections by a landslide in 1990, a result the junta refused to acknowledge, leading the US and the European Union to impose sanctions.
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