US envoys hold rare talks with Myanmar junta

YANGON – Two top US envoys began talks with Myanmar’s ruling generals yesterday and were set to meet democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as they made the highest level visit to the military-ruled nation in 14 years.

The trip by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell and his deputy Scot Marciel is the latest move by President Barack Obama’s administration to engage Myanmar’s reclusive junta.The American officials touched down in the remote administrative capital Naypyidaw on a US Air Force plane from Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand, US embassy spokesman Richard Mei said.’They are due to meet with senior government officials today. Tomorrow they will be in Yangon and meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition leaders,’ Mei told AFP.Myanmar officials said Campbell met Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsann and local organisations including the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Association yesterday.The US delegation would hold talks with Prime Minister Thein Sein today morning but was unlikely to meet junta chief Senior General Than Shwe during the two-day trip, they said.Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi had her house arrest extended by another 18 months in August, prompting an international outcry. She has spent most of the last two decades in detention.Campbell is 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 under the administration of President Bill Clinton. – Nampa-AFP