Yangon- Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Wednesday with a representative of the ruling junta to discuss her proposals to get sanctions dropped against the regime that has kept her under house arrest for 14 years, sources said. Relations Minister Aung Kyi met the Nobel laureate at the Seinle Kantha Guesthouse for about 25 minutes Wednesday afternoon, government sources confirmed. The two also met on Saturday.
Although details about the meetings have not been made available, government sources confirmed it was about an offer Suu Kyi made last month to help junta leader Senior General Than Shwe persuade Western democracies to lift their economic sanctions on Myanmar.
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.
Last month, Suu Kyi sent a letter to Than Shwe offering to discuss the lifting of sanctions by the West, her trump card against the regime, and asked permission to meet with Western diplomats.
Suu Kyi said she was ready to cooperate with the junta on the sanctions issue if the junta agreed to discuss three points: which countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar, the impact of the sanctions and why they were imposed.
International 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.
