By Amy Glasrud
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

YANGON, Myanmar – Aung San Suu Kyi met with a senior minister of the junta on Friday, after nearly two months of no contact.  According to the Associated Press, an official said “a government-appointed liaison official, Aung Kyi, met with Suu Kyi for about an hour.”  It is unknown what was discussed at this meeting.  An NLD spokesman Nyan Win stated “that the more they meet, the better for the country.”  Reuters reported that “witnesses had seen a car leave Suu Kyi’s Yangon home, where she is under house arrest, and drive to a state guesthouse.”

The last time Suu Kyi had met with the junta was November 19th, 2007, when Suu Kyi met with regime leader Senior General Than Shwe, and it is speculated that they spoke about the junta’s preconditions for negotiations between the two parties.  Reuters stated that Than Shwe has repeatedly insisted the only path to political reform is via the junta’s own “roadmap to democracy.”  It is uncertain just how much the junta will be willing to negotiate; many critics claim that they are unwilling to work outside their own framework.

According to the International Herald Tribune, western governments and the United Nations have pressed the military to open a sustained dialogue with Suu Kyi in order to bring about democratic reforms.  Moreover, Yahoo News reported that “in December, US President George W. Bush threatened to spearhead a global campaign to step up sanctions against the country if it continued to ignore calls for a democratic transition.”  However the regime has allowed for a UN rights investigator and a UN special envoy to enter the country, but the junta has yet to make many changes.

According to Nicholas Burns of the Washington Post, the leaders of Myanmar (formally known has Burma) and their “policies are the greatest threat to Burma’s unity, stability, and prosperity.”

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meets with junta – 12 January 2008

Associated Press – Myanmar’s Suu Kyi meets with junta – 11 January 2008

International Herald Tribune – Aung San Suu Kyi meets with junta representative in Myanmar – 11 January 2008

Reuters – Detained Suu Kyi meets Myanmar junta minister – 11 January 2008

Yahoo News – Aung San Suu Kyi meets Myanmar junta official – 11 January 2008