Aung San Suu Kyi meets western diplomats

Burmese junta allows detained pro-democracy leader to discuss sanctions against military regime
Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi listens
Aung San Suu Kyi in 2002: the detained pro-democracy leader wrote to the junta asking to discuss sanctions with diplomats. Photograph: Stephen Shaver/AFP/Getty Images

Burma's military junta allowed the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet foreign diplomats today, amid signs of a shift in western policy towards the country's repressive regime.

Aung San Suu Kyi met Britain's new ambassador, Andrew Heyn, in his capacity as European Union representative, and US and Australian diplomats to discuss the issue of sanctions against Burma. It was the first time since 2003 she had been allowed to meet Britain's most senior representative in the country.

The foreign secretary, David Miliband, described the meeting as a "small but welcome development".

"The fact that the Burmese authorities have allowed this meeting gives us some hope that the authorities might finally be ready to start a genuine dialogue which can lead to political reconciliation.

"The Burmese people need and deserve change, and we have been clear in our support. We have consistently urged the authorities to respond, making clear the international community's real concerns, but also our willingness in return to respond to progress."

The meeting comes after the US government last month announced a major shift in its Burma strategy after concluding that sanctions were not working.

After the meeting, Heyn told reporters that Aung San Suu Kyi had called for the meeting "to try to get a clear picture of sanctions, what sanctions are, and the impact of sanctions".

He said the Nobel peace prize winner, who has suffered from various illnesses in recent years, was "very healthy and very engaged".

"She was in remarkable form for someone who has been through what she has been through," he said.

Asked about the prospect of sanctions against Burma being lifted, Heyn said the international community wanted to see progress on human rights and democracy.

"From the British government's point of view, we believe that sanctions send a strong political message to the Burmese authorities about our real determination to see genuine democratic reform in Burma.

"The fact is that the regime make a very public point of complaining about sanctions, which suggests to us that they are having an effect.

"But what we have also made clear is that we will respond to substantive progress towards democracy in respect of human rights but we have to see concrete progress on the ground."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the ambassadors met Aung San Suu Kyi after she wrote to the junta asking to discuss sanctions with western diplomats.

"The British ambassador explained the nature of EU sanctions. It is early days and it is a bit hard to get a sense of the regime's motivation in allowing the meeting to take place," the spokeswoman said. "The government said this was a gesture of goodwill. We know they are keen to see sanctions lifted. We want to respond positively to concrete steps towards political reconciliation."

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years, was driven to a government guesthouse to meet the diplomats. The meeting lasted about an hour, after which she was driven back to her lakeside residence.

The EU has imposed a series of measures intended to put pressure on the junta, including an arms embargo, visa ban and trade restrictions.

The 64-year-old had previously welcomed sanctions as a way to pressure the junta to achieve political reconciliation with the pro-democracy movement.

But last month she wrote to the junta leader, Senior Gen Than Shwe, saying she was willing to co-operate with the military government to have the sanctions lifted and seeking permission to meet western diplomats in order to understand the positions of those governments that had imposed the sanctions.

Her opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has insisted on concessions from the government if they are to work together, particularly the freeing of political prisoners.

After receiving the letter, the Burmese foreign relations minister met Aung San Suu Kyi twice. Details of these talks have not been disclosed, but the NLD spokesman Nyan Win said today that he hoped the junta would also agree to her second request in the letter – a meeting with members of her party.

Last week, a court rejected Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against the extension of her widely condemned house arrest.

The court ruling upheld her August conviction for breaking the terms of her house arrest by briefly sheltering an uninvited American at her home earlier this year.

She was sentenced to an additional 18 months' house arrest which means she cannot participate in elections scheduled for next year, the first in Burma in two decades.

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