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Suu Kyi, Campbell hold two-hour meeting
Irrawddy - November 4, 2009
Wai Moe – Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a delegation led by US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell at Inya Lake Hotel in Rangoon for two hours today, according to US officials.
US Embassy officials in Rangoon said the meeting started 11:40 am local time at the hotel and ended at 1:40 pm.
Earlier today, the visiting US delegation met with Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein before flying to Rangoon for talks with Suu Kyi.
An official with the US Embassy in Rangoon, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Irrawaddy that the meeting between Thein Sein and Campbell proceeded as scheduled. Campbell will hold a press conference at Rangoon International Airport at 6:30 pm local time.
Campbell's meeting with Thein Sein was the first between a senior US official and a Burmese prime minister in more than a decade.
At last month's summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Thein Sein told his Asean counterparts that Suu Kyi has a role to play in the national reconciliation process.
Responding to Thein Sein's statement, Win Tin, a prominent leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), said that if Suu Kyi has a role to play in the national conciliation process, the junta has to prove it practically.
Shortly after his arrival in Rangoon on Wednesday morning, Campbell was scheduled to meet Suu Kyi at the city's Inya Lake Hotel. Following the meeting with Suu Kyi, the US delegation will meet with ethnic and opposition leaders on Wednesday afternoon.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win said six of the nine members of the party's central executive committee, including Win Tin and Khin Maung Swe, would meet with the US delegation at the party's headquarter.
Nyan Win said the three other executive members, including party chairman Aung Shwe and secretary U Lwin, would not be able to attend the meeting because of ill health.
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