Myanmar Opposition Refuses Meeting With Regime Figure
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party refused an invitation Friday to meet an official of Myanmar’s regime because she was barred from attending, the party said.
The invitation came after Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, demanded that the government remove security personnel posted at her home. The demand represented a new challenge to the ruling State Peace and Development Council’s authority ahead of the 10th anniversary today of bloody anti-government protests.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy said the party had turned down an invitation to meet today with Deputy Home Minister, Brig. Gen. Myint Maung.
The invitation to NLD Chairman Aung Shwe said Suu Kyi and the party’s two vice chairmen were excluded from the meeting, the NLD said in a statement.
Suu Kyi’s request for the dismissal of the security detail at her home represents the deepest deterioration in her relations with the government of Myanmar, formerly Burma, since she was released from six years of house arrest in July 1995. She still remains largely confined to her home.
The detail remained in place Friday, but party members said upon leaving Suu Kyi’s compound that the personnel were preparing to vacate their posts.
A government spokesman said in a statement that authorities were “happy to comply and discussions are now underway.”
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