The first meeting in two years between a top Burmese military general and leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party is a key step towards improving relations between the two sides, diplomats and a government official said yesterday.
Lieut-Gen Khin Nyunt, one of the most powerful men in Burma's military government, met the chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung Shwe, and two other party leaders on Thursday for talks. It was the first time any senior member of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) had met NLD officials since Aung Suu Kyi was released from six years of house arrest in 1995.
"It's an absolute shock, a real surprise," said one diplomat about the talks. Government and NLD sources said the talks dealt with recent allegations that the NLD was involved in terrorist activities.
A senior government official in Rangoon said Thursday's meeting was part of a government plan to improve communication between the two sides.
"This is the government's stepby-step approach according to its own schedule," the official said. "Both sides have had a chance to express what they want to say. . . and get explanations on whatever they have doubts about. It is good.
"We decided the time had come to meet with them, but it's not due to external pressure," he added.
He said it was not timed to coincide with Burma's admission to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) next week. However, ASEAN officials have urged the SLORC to hold talks with the NLD.
Aung Suu Kyi has made repeated requests for dialogue since her release two years ago, and many foreign governments have condemned Rangoon for ignoring her pleas. The two sides became deadlocked over the past year as the government intensified its crackdown against the democracy movement and arrested party members.
Last month, Lieut-Gen Khin Nyunt accused the NLD of accepting more than $85,000 from two covert US agents. He also linked the NLD to bombings in Burma. Aung Suu Kyi denied the accusations.
Reuter adds:
Meanwhile, Cambodia's powerful co-prime minister, Mr Hun Sen, yesterday shrugged off increasing international efforts to solve his country's political crisis and told foreigners, including ASEAN, to stay out of the country's affairs.
As Mr Hun Sen warned against meddling, the first prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who was ousted by Mr Hun Sen in a bloody coup earlier this month, opened talks in Bangkok with three foreign ministers from ASEAN.
The prince was mobbed by reporters as he arrived to talk to the foreign ministers of Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, but declined to speak. The ministers meeting him were Mr Prachuab Chaiyasarn of Thailand, Mr Ali Alatas of Indonesia and Mr Domingo Siazon of the Philippines.
Mr Hun Sen said earlier that he would meet the three ASEAN envoys in Phnom Penh today, but appeared weary of their diplomatic efforts. Cambodia, he said, could survive without ASEAN.
"I will sit down and listen to them," he said, but added: "No foreigner can control Hun Sen. I will ask them to finish the problem tomorrow so they won't have to bother about Cambodia any more."
In Bangkok, a member of Prince Ranariddh's staff said royalist forces of the ousted first prime minister would only wage armed resistance against Mr Hun Sen as a last resort. - (Reuter)