Yangon
(ANTARA News) - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will meet with a Myanmar
minister next week, an official said on Saturday, the first known contact
between the Nobel laureate and the new army-backed civilian government.
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| Pro-democratic Leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi. (ANTARA PHOTO/REUTERS/Khing Maung Win) |
Suu Kyi,
who has spent a total of 15 years in detention at the behest of Myanmar's
former military dictators, would meet on Monday with Labour Minister Aung Kyi,
who represented the ruling generals in previous talks with the opposition
figurehead.
It is not
known whether the meeting will signal a softening in stance by the new
government, which is led by members of the junta that controlled Myanmar for
two decades and was ardently opposed to Suu Kyi and her former political party,
the National League for Democracy (NLD).
A
government official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters the meeting would
take place early Monday afternoon at a state guesthouse close to Suu Kyi's
Yangon home.
In his
former role as relations minister for the military junta, Aung Kyi met Suu Kyi
10 times while she was under house arrest.
Aung Kyi is
regarded as one of the more moderate ministers in Myanmar's army-dominated
government, and this will be his first meeting with the pro-democracy leader in
his capacity as labour minister in the new government.
Suu Kyi,
66, was released on Nov 13 last year, six days after a long-awaited election
widely derided as a sham to entrench military rule behind a veneer of
democracy, dubbed by critics as a an "election of generals".
In numerous
media interviews, Suu Kyi expressed a desire to hold dialogue with the new
government, which took office in April, to press for some reforms to help
Myanmar's people. The government did not respond.
She has
been guarded in her comments and has been careful not to criticise the new
government, or the election, and the new administration has given her
unprecedented freedom to travel and meet with journalists, diplomats and
foreign envoys.
State
newspapers, which serve as mouthpieces for the government, have occasionally
criticised Suu Kyi and warned her she would meet "a tragic end" if
her or the NLD tried to interfere with its running of the country, comments
that drew a sharp rebuke from the international community.
Analysts
say it is likely Myanmar's rulers are aware of Suu Kyi's influence on the
international community and realise she would need to be involved if there were
to be a review of Western sanctions in place since 1988.
NLD
spokesman Han Tha Myint said he was not aware of the meeting, but welcomed the
government's move to engage with Suu Kyi.
"We
welcome this news," Han Tha Myint said. "But we just don`t know what
they would like to talk about."
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