Burmese opposition party members who met with United States embassy staff yesterday were told that Washington will soon send its deputy secretary of state to the country, a party spokesperson said.
It would mark the most high profile visit of a US politician to Burma in over a decade, and comes shortly after the Obama administration announced it would begin direct engagement with the military regime.
The head of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party’s information wing, Khin Maung Swe, said that three US diplomats led by embassy chargé d'affaires, Larry Dinger, met with NLD members at the party headquarters in Rangoon yesterday.
“It seemed like they came for a fact-finding mission before the [deputy] secretary’s visit,” said Khin Maung Swe. “They said they will also meet with other groups, just not only the NLD, so it’s quite likely that they are fact-finding.”
The last senior US politician to visit Burma was Senator Jim Webb, who arrived in the country in August and secured the release of imprisoned US citizen John Yettaw.
His visit was widely seen as a first step in the decision by the US to open up dialogue with the junta after years of isolation.
Accompanying the embassy staff was an official from the US government’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, he said.
It is the first time that diplomats from the US have visited the party’s headquarters since the policy change was announced in September.
Khin Maung Swe said that NLD members were asked questions similar to those put forward by the 20 diplomats from European Union countries who visited the headquarters last week.
“They asked about our plan for the 2010 elections and our opinion on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s activity regarding the sanctions,” he said.
The detained opposition leader last month sent a letter to junta chief Than Shwe urging for dialogue between the two regarding the lifting of sanctions.
This was followed by two meetings between Suu Kyi and the Burmese junta’s liaison officer, Aung Kyi, reportedly to discuss the content of the letter. Suu Kyi also held a rare meeting with three Western diplomats on 9 October, also to discuss sanctions.
It appears to signal a shift in attitude by the government, which normally places tight restrictions on contact between Suu Kyi and foreign envoys.
