Myanmar's military government on Monday allowed Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace laureate and detained leader of the now-defunct National League for Democracy (NLD), to meet a visiting American diplomat, Kurt Campbell, in Yangon.
Ms. Suu Kyi is understood to have explained her stand on the general election promised by the junta to restore democracy. However, no authoritative details of the conversation were conveyed to any of the former leaders of the NLD, who were no longer in prison.
On a parallel political track, the junta allowed a delegation of 10 members of the defunct Central Executive Committee of that party to call on the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs at an American diplomat's residence in Yangon. The delegation was led by octogenarian leader, Tin Oo, who was set free from house arrest not long ago.
Nyan Win, Ms. Suu Kyi's close political associate, later told The Hindu from Yangon that the U.S. envoy, who heard the views of the pro-democracy leaders, did not explicitly convey Washington's likely stand on the proposed Myanmar elections. However, Mr. Campbell indicated that the 2008 Constitution, under which the promised polls might be held, was not conducive to democracy, said Mr. Nyan Win.
The ex-NLD leaders briefed the U.S. envoy about their plans to continue political work under the auspices of a “social service organisation,” for which the junta's permission would be sought. “Ways and means” of doing so were now being explored, Mr. Campbell was told.
