Myanmar’s Suu Kyi offers to talk to EU and US

MYANMARdissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested permission from the ruling junta to talk about lifting economic sanctions with the Australian, US and European embassies, opposition sources said. Suu Kyi, who is currently under house detention, made the request in a letter sent to junta chief Senior General Than Shwe, the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party revealed. “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,” Suu Kyi said in the letter, dated 25 September, 2009. Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest, has made it clear that she is ready to cooperate with the ruling junta to get the West to lift economic sanctions imposed on the country, as long as three conditions are met.
“Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi has written a letter to Senior General Than Shwe regarding the sanctions issue,” said Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi. Than Shwe is Myanmar’s current military strongman. He said that Suu Kyi indicated she is not opposed to ending Western sanctions against Myanmar, as long as there is “engagement” on both sides. In her letter, Suu Kyi said it was necessary to discuss three points –  which countries have imposed economic sanctions on Myanmar, the impact of the sanctions and why they were imposed. Sanctions have been in placemposed 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. Earlier this year, junta chief Than Shwe hinted that he would be willing to open a political dialogue with Suu Kyi if she agreed to co-operate in persuading the West to lift the sanctions. To date, Than Shwe has refused to talk to Suu Kyi. Discussing why sanctions have been imposed on Myanmar would amount to a discussion of the NLD’s demands.
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. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told journalists on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that the US administration had decided on a double-pronged approach of both engagement and continued sanctions.
“We believe that sanctions remain important as part of our policy, but by themselves, they have not produced the results that had been hoped for on behalf of the people of Burma,” Clinton said, referring to the South-East Asian country by its former name.