US envoy to meet Aung San Suu Kyi on Myanmar trip (2nd Roundup)

Nov 2, 2009, 10:32 GMT

   Yangon - US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell is scheduled to hold talks with Aung San Suu Kyi during a visit to Myanmar this week, but is unlikely to meet the junta chief, sources said Monday.

   Campbell and US Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel are scheduled to arrive in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon Tuesday morning and fly directly on to the military's new headquarters of Naypyitaw, government sources confirmed.

   In Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, Campbell is to meet with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, Chief Justice Aung Toe and representatives of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), the political arm of the junta. There was no meeting scheduled with military supremo Than Shwe, said sources who requested anonymity.

   Campbell and Marciel are scheduled to return to Yangon Wednesday, where, they would meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi at 2 pm at her home-cum-prison near Inya Lake, military sources confirmed.

   They also plan talks with leaders of the Suu Kyi' opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the Committee Representing People's Parliament and the pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP).

   Marciel is to travel on to Thailand to participate in a public forum at Chulalongkorn University Thursday on US foreign policy towards Myanmar, and also brief Thai government officials.

   Suu Kyi has welcomed Campbell's visit, seen as part of US President Barack Obama's diplomatic effort to engage with the pariah regime to encourage democratic reforms.

   Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been denied power by the military for the past 19 years - of which she has spent 13 years under house arrest.

   Another election is planned in 2010, but the international community is not expected to accept its outcome unless Suu Kyi and some 2,100 other political prisoners are freed beforehand and the NLD is allowed to contest the polls.