U.S. official has rare talks with Myanmar junta

WASHINGTON-A senior U.S. diplomat held rare talks this week with members of Myanmar's military junta, including the Asian nation's foreign minister, the State Department said Wednesday.Stephen Blake, director of the Office for Mainland Southeast Asia at the State Department, also visited with members of the opposition party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi."Mr. Blake met with a variety of people representing a wide range of views regarding the current situation, including Foreign Minister Nyan Win," the State Department said in a written response to questions about Blake's unannounced visit. Blake also met with members of ethnic minority groups as well as others in the Myanmar government. His visit was one leg of a five-country tour that included Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that the Obama administration was reviewing its policy toward Myanmar and looking at new ways to sway its entrenched military junta.But the State Department, which did not provide further details of the meeting, insisted Blake's visit did not reflect any shift in strategy and that his predecessors had also met with officials from the junta in recent years."While we have not yet finalized our approach, we remain committed to encouraging a genuine dialogue between the Burmese authorities and opposition that leads to a free and democratic Burma that respects the rights of its diverse citizens and is at peace with its neighbors," said the department.Washington has gradually tightened sanctions on the generals who have ruled the former Burma for more than four decades to try to force them into political rapprochement with Nobel laureate Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.The opposition won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power, and Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for more than half of the last two decades.
(Reporting by Sue Pleming; Editing by Paul Simao)
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE52O75Y20090325?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true

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