Early days for thaw in US-Myanmar ties, US envoy says

Nov 5, 2009, 6:52 GMT

   Yangon - This week's visit by senior United States government officials to military-ruled Myanmar is not expected to result in a quick thaw in US-Myanmar ties, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of States Scot Marciel said Thursday.

   'This is early days,' Marciel said in Bangkok after his two-day visit to neighbouring Myanmar. 'I think it's going to take some time.'

   Marciel and US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell visited Myanmar on Tuesday and Wednesday, meeting with senior government and opposition figures including pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

   The visit was described as an exploratory mission to explain the results of the US's policy review on Myanmar, also called Burma, under the new administration of President Barack Obama.

   Acknowledging that the US's past policy of imposing punitive economic sanctions on Myanmar's junta has failed, Obama has suggested a path of greater engagement with the regime. Myanmar is deemed a pariah in the world community for its poor human rights record, failure to release Suu Kyi and 2,100 other political prisoners and refusal to introduce meaningful democratic reforms.

   The visit by Campbell and Marciel, the highest-ranking US official to visit the country in 14 years, was an initial step in the engagement process which promises to include many more encounters and a strong possibility of diplomatic failure, Marciel said.

   'We're going in to this with our eyes wide open,' said Marciel, who is also US Ambassador to the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). 'Success is far from guaranteed.'

   Past diplomatic efforts to persuade Myanmar's generals to mend their dictatorial ways, either through sanctions as imposed by the US and the European Union, or through the tact of 'constructive engagement' as pursued by ASEAN, have failed.

   The regime plans to stage a general election next year as part of its seven-step road map to 'discipline-flourishing democracy,' but the outcome will not be seen as credible by Western democracies unless Suu Kyi, members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party and the ethnic minority groups are included in the electoral process.

   'This election could be an opportunity, but only if they are done right,' Marciel said. 'The first step has to be a dialogue inside the country between the main stakeholders.'

   Suu Kyi and other opposition groups have long been calling for a dialogue with the regime to amend the 2008 pro-military constitution and remove other obstacles to participatory democracy.

   'If there is going to be a credible election that fundamentally changes the dynamics of the country I think there needs to be a dialogue,' Marciel said.

   Campbell, in a statement read at Yangon Airport Wednesday night, hinted that the US was willing to take steps towards improved relations with Myanmar on the condition that the regime makes concrete efforts to move toward reconciliation with its opponents.

   Removing some sanctions is one of the few carrots the US has to offer.

   'We're willing to move in terms of improving relations, but we will only do that if there is concrete progress,' Marciel noted.   

   The two envoys urged the regime to allow Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for the past six years and was recently sentenced to another 18 months under detention, greater access to her NLD party.

   Suu Kyi met with Campbell and Marciel Wednesday for almost two hours at a Yangon hotel and emerged smiling. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house arrest.

   Campbell and Marciel were not granted an audience with military supremo Senior General Than Shwe on their visit.

   Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Suu Kyi's NLD won a 1990 general election by a landslide but has been denied power by the military.

   The international community was not expected to accept the outcome of next year's election unless Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are freed and the NLD is allowed to contest the polls.