US President Barack Obama said on Friday he saw "flickers of progress" in Myanmar, dispatching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a historic visit that could draw the country out of half a century of global isolation. Obama, in Indonesia for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, said he had spoken for the first time with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who told him she supported more US engagement with the country also known as Burma.
---- Suu Kyi party to re-register to contest elections
In another indication of change in Myanmar, Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, re-registered on Friday to contest a series of by-elections for vacant parliamentary seats. This follows amendments to electoral laws and brings Suu Kyi a step closer to returning to politics.
Obama said the release of political prisoners, relaxing of media restrictions and signs of legislative change in recent weeks were "the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we've seen in years". Clinton's two-day visit from December 1 would be the first by a US Secretary of State since a 1962 military coup ushered in 50 years of unbroken military rule that ended in March when a nominally civilian parliament was established.
Since then, the new government has called for peace with ethnic minority groups, displayed some tolerance of criticism, suspended an unpopular Chinese-funded dam project, freed about 230 political prisoners and reached out to Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate freed last year from 15 years of detention. "We want to seize what could be a historic opportunity for progress and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said.
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