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Suu Kyi mulls over junta offer

SINGAPORE: Raising hopes of a negotiated settlement of the crisis in Myanmar, Than Shwe, leader of the ruling junta, has spelt out a conditional offer to hold talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic democracy campaigner and Nobel Peace Laureate in prolonged detention.

The offer by Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was announced over State Television on Thursday.

Though there was no immediate response from Ms. Suu Kyi or her National League for Democracy, she is understood to be inclined to hold talks with the military regime.

Sr. Gen. Than Shwe’s offer follows the visit to Myanmar by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

Myanmar’s state media reported that Sr. Gen. Than Shwe “will personally meet” Ms. Suu Kyi, “if she declares to give up … efforts for confrontation” with the SPDC.

Meanwhile, Singapore Prime Minister and Chairman of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Lee Hsien Loong has urged India, China, and Japan to “weigh in” behind the United Nations in its efforts to resolve the Myanmar crisis.

Mr. Lee has written to the leaders of China, India, and Japan to “encourage them to work together with ASEAN and the U.N. to help the parties in Myanmar find a way forward for national reconciliation”. The ASEAN Chairman emphasised the need for these “powers” to “weigh in,” as the regional forum “alone would not have enough leverage” to influence the thinking of Myanmar’s ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

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