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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Washington welcomes Myanmar's Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)
WASHINGTON -- Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi began her landmark visit to Washington by declaring Tuesday she supports the easing of the remaining U.S. economic sanctions on her country.
Suu Kyi also credited Myanmar's president, former general Thein Sein, for democratic reforms but cautioned the country also known as Burma had a ways to go before shaking off the legacy of five decades of military rule.
The Nobel laureate was speaking after meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department, kicking off a 17-day visit that comes as the Obama administration considers easing its ban on imports from Myanmar in response to recent reforms, including releases of about 90 dissidents this week.
Suu Kyi's trip, during which she will receive Congress' highest award, marks another milestone in her remarkable transition from imprisoned dissident to globe-trotting parliamentarian. Her comments on sanctions also mark an evolution in her view on the role western governments should play in promoting democracy in Myanmar.
For years she had advocated sanctions as a weapon for pressuring Myanmar's military to reform.
"I do support the easing of sanctions because I think that our people must start to take responsibility for their own destiny," Suu Kyi said at the United States Institute of Peace, a conflict resolution group. "We should not depend on U.S. sanctions to keep up the momentum for democracy. We have got to work at it ourselves."
Clinton did not directly address the trade-sanctions issue in her comments but such a categorical statement of support from Suu Kyi for easing them increases the likelihood the Obama administration will do so -- possibly during next week's visit by Thein Sein to attend the UN General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders in New York.
After years of decrying Suu Kyi's treatment in Myanmar during her 15 years of house arrest, the U.S. has been at forefront of the re-engagement with the former pariah state as it has opened up over the past two years since her release. Thein Sein has eased draconian restrictions on the press and allowed Suu Kyi and her party to contest special elections in April. In response, the U.S. normalized diplomatic relations and in July allowed U.S. companies to start investing in Myanmar again.
After Washington, she travels later in the week to New York, where she worked from 1969 to 1971 at the UN. Suu Kyi will then go to Kentucky to address the University of Louisville, before travelling to meet with one of America's largest Burmese communities in Fort Wayne, Ind. She will also visit San Francisco and Los Angeles.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 19, 2012 A8
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