Glimpses of hope in Myanmar

US President Barack Obama makes a statement announcing that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Myanmar, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali.

US President Barack Obama makes a statement announcing that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to Myanmar, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Published Nov 18, 2011

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Nusa Dua, Indonesia - President Barack Obama told Aung San Suu Kyi he deeply admired her democracy struggle, in a call illustrating glimpses of hope for Myanmar after decades of military rule.

The National League for Democracy leader in turn told the president she hoped to meet him one day, and even asked after his Portuguese water dog Bo, US officials said on Friday on condition of anonymity.

Obama spoke to Aung San Suu Kyi for 20 minutes as he flew on Thursday to Indonesia for the East Asia Summit, and the conversation prompted him to sign off on a trip to Myanmar next month by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The fact that a US president was able to call Suu Kyi points to potentially historic shifts in Myanmar politics, as for years she was under house arrest and cut off from communication with the outside world.

Officials said the pair had a “very substantive discussion” on the situation in Myanmar after the long-ruling military stepped out of the political front line in favour of a nominally civilian administration under President Thein Sein, a former general.

“The president was very struck by both her substantive observations and her warmth,” one official said, adding that Obama told the daughter of independence hero Aung San he had long been an admirer of her struggle.

“She asked after not just his family, but also Bo,” another official said. “They both said that they'd very much like to meet in person.”

Officials said that the Obama administration believed that it was time to encourage further reforms in Myanmar with active engagement and hoped for progress on human rights, freeing prisoners and new labour protection laws.

“We think the winds of change are blowing inside the country,” another official said.

One of the officials said that Suu Kyi had encouraged Obama to make it clear Washington would work with the Myanmar government if it showed it was willing to work with her, and the rest of the world. - Sapa-AFP

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