Yangon - Myanmar's ruling junta Saturday sent its "liaison minister" to hold talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, raising hopes for a political dialogue, government and opposition sources said. Relations Minister Aung Kyi met with Suu Kyi at her house-cum-prison in Yangon for 50 minutes Saturday afternoon, a government official, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed.
In October 2007, Aung Kyi was appointed as a special relations minister by junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe to deal with Suu Kyi in the wake of a brutal army crackdown on monk-led protests in Yangon.
Aung Kyi last met with Suu Kyi in January 2008. Details on the content of Saturday's meeting were not immediately known but the meeting itself has raised hopes that a political dialogue may take place between the junta and opposition.
Suu Kyi, 64, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest and is currently serving another 18-month sentence in her family compound.
On Friday, a Yangon court rejected her appeal to overturn the sentence, which assures that she is out of the political picture next year when the junta plans to stage a general election.
In a new manoeuvre, Suu Kyi last month sent a letter to junta chief Than Shwe offering to discuss the lifting of sanctions by the West, her trump card against the regime.
Observers speculated that Aung Kyi met Suu Kyi to discuss her recent proposal.
"I think that meeting was concerned with the letter Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi sent to Than Shwe," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for the NLD. "The meeting is a good sign."
Suu Kyi's letter asked for Than Shwe's permission to meet with Western diplomats.
"Let me meet with the charge d'affaires of the United States, an ambassador representing the European Union countries and the Australian ambassador to discuss lifting sanctions against Myanmar," the letter said.
Suu Kyi said she was ready to cooperate with the ruling junta to persuade the West to lift economic sanctions imposed on the country, as long as three conditions are met.
Her letter said it was necessary to discuss: which countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar, the impact of the sanctions and why they were imposed.
Economic sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar since 1988, when the military brutally cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, leaving an estimated 3,000 people dead.
The US and European Union have increased their sanctions as the junta first refused to acknowledge the NLD's victory in the 1990 elections, and then proceeded to arrest critics and suppress all forms of dissent. Many of the sanctions target the top generals specifically.
Earlier this year, Than Shwe hinted that he would be willing to open a political dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to cooperate in persuading the West to lift the sanctions.
Most Western nations have demanded that Than Shwe release Suu Kyi and some 2,000 other political prisoners as a first step towards democratization in the country, which has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi and the NLD demand the same thing.
Washington recently announced a new policy of greater "engagement" with Myanmar. It is calling on the military, which has ruled the country since 1962, to improve its human rights record, allow democratic reforms and release political prisoners, among them Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, ahead of a planned general election in 2010.
