Mobile | RSS
You choose, we deliver
If you are interested in this story, you might be interested in others from The Journal Gazette. Go to www.journalgazette.net/newsletter and pick the subjects you care most about. We'll deliver your customized daily news report at 3 a.m. Fort Wayne time, right to your email.

Myanmar

  • New deal to end fighting with Myanmar rebels
     KENGTUNG, Myanmar – A Myanmar negotiator says ethnic Shan rebels have agreed in a second round of talks to end fighting with army troops in the country’s east, the latest reported deal between the new reformistSunday
  • In Myanmar, kickbacks rule
    For Zaw Naing, who sells satellite imagery to Myanmar’s government, teeing off on the golf course with the former generals running the country is essential to sealing deals. Sometimes, he has to do more.Sunday
  • Myanmar welcomes easing of U.S. sanctions
    YANGON, Myanmar – Officials and businessmen in Myanmar welcomed U.S. plans to ease economic sanctions, saying Friday it will benefit both countries in a market long cut off from most Western investment.May 18, 2012
Advertisement
Published: December 3, 2011 3:00 a.m.

Clinton, Suu Kyi promote closer ties

Matthew Lee | Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar – In a striking display of solidarity and sisterhood between two of the world’s most recognizable women, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi vowed Friday to work together to promote democratic reforms in Suu Kyi’s long-isolated and authoritarian homeland.

Wrapping up a historic three-day visit to Myanmar, the first by a secretary of state to the Southeast Asian nation in more than 50 years, Clinton and Suu Kyi held hands on the porch of the lakeside home where the Nobel peace laureate spent much of the past two decades under house arrest. Clinton thanked her for her “steadfast and very clear leadership.”

Suu Kyi has welcomed Clinton’s visit and tentatively embraced reforms enacted by Myanmar’s new civilian government. She thanked the secretary and President Obama for their “careful and calibrated” engagement that has seen the U.S. take some modest steps to improve ties.

“If we move forward together I am confident there will be no turning back on the road to democracy,” Suu Kyi said, referring to her opposition National League for Democracy party, the government, the United States and other countries, including Myanmar’s giant neighbor China. “We are not on that road yet, but we hope to get there as soon as possible with the help and understanding of our friends.”

As she did in the capital of Naypyidaw on Thursday, Clinton said more significant incentives will be offered, but only if the government releases all political prisoners, ends brutal campaigns against ethnic minorities, respects the rule of law and improves human rights conditions.

Clinton’s meetings with Suu Kyi were the highlight of the secretary of state’s visit to the country also known as Burma.

In addition to the modest incentives Clinton announced Thursday for the government, she said Friday that the U.S. would spend about $1.2 million for preliminary projects aimed at helping the people of Myanmar. The money will go to microcredit and health care initiatives and assistance to land-mine victims, particularly in rural areas.

© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. Neither this material nor its presentation may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Share