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YANGON — Trading goodwill gestures, Myanmar's junta agreed to let detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi meet with members of her party Friday for the first time in more than three years, while she said she was prepared for a dialogue with the country's military rulers.
The developments, which came as U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari left Myanmar after a six-day mission, signaled some progress in defusing the country's political crisis. Gambari met 1991 Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi for an hour Thursday.
The statement was apparently the opposition leader's first since her latest detention began in 2003. It provided the first opportunity to gauge her reaction to the government's September crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators and the U.N. mediation efforts afterward.
The announcement that Suu Kyi could meet fellow party leaders, made on the state radio and television evening news, came just hours after Gambari left Myanmar. The U.N. envoy said he had made progress in his mission to promote talks between the junta and the pro-democracy movement.
"We now have a process going which would lead to substantive dialogue" between the government and Suu Kyi, said a U.N. statement issued shortly after Gambari left Thursday afternoon but before the statements from the government and Suu Kyi were released.
Gambari read Suu Kyi's statement when he arrived in Singapore after leaving Myanmar.
"In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success and welcome the necessary good offices role of the United Nations to help facilitate our efforts in this regard," said her statement.
Gambari was sent to Myanmar by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with a mandate to promote political reconciliation after the U.N. Security Council condemned the crackdown.
Authorities by their own count killed 10 people, though diplomats and dissidents say the death toll was much higher. Thousands were arrested and the crackdown triggered intense international pressure to start political reforms and talk with the democracy movement.
There had been some doubt that Gambari could make any headway after he failed to be received by junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and the military rulers rejected his proposal of a three-way meeting between Suu Kyi, a junta member and Gambari.
On the eve of Gambari's visit, the junta announced it planned to expel the main U.N. representative in the country for criticizing the government.
Suu Kyi has been detained continuously since May 2003, and has not seen fellow executives of her National League for Democracy since May 2004. She has spent 12 of the last 18 years in government custody.
State radio's announcement that Suu Kyi would meet fellow party leaders indicated she would first meet with Aung Kyi, government minister in charge of relations with the opposition leader.
It will be Aung Kyi's second meeting with Suu Kyi since his appointment in the aftermath of the September crackdown, when the junta — officially known as the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC — came under intense international pressure to start political reforms and talk with the democracy movement.
Suu Kyi's statement described her first meeting with Aung Kyi on Oct. 25 as constructive. But she said she expected "this phase of preliminary consultations will conclude soon so that a meaningful and timebound dialogue with the SPDC leadership can start as early as possible."
Several potential roadblocks stand in the way of further progress. The junta gave no indication it plans to free Suu Kyi or more than 1,100 other political prisoners, a major demand of Myanmar's opposition and the world community.
Suu Kyi said nothing about meeting the conditions set by Than Shwe which would lead to him meeting with her. These included her renouncing any support for economic sanctions imposed by foreign countries because of the junta's failure to turn over power to a democratically elected government.
Suu Kyi's party won a 1990 general election, but the military refused to cede power, saying a new constitution had to be adopted first. It is still in the process of writing one.
There are nine central executive committee members in Suu Kyi's party. One of them, her deputy Tin Oo, is also under house arrest. It was not clear whether he would also be allowed to attend the meeting.
"Our leaders have repeatedly requested a meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and we welcome the development," said Nyan Win, a spokesman for her party. 'Daw' is an honorific used in speaking of older women.
Suu Kyi was last allowed to meet fellow party executives in May 2004 to discuss whether to participate in the junta's National Convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution. The party declined to attend, complaining the process was undemocratic.
The convention completed its task in September. It was the first step in the junta's seven-stage "road map" to democracy, which is supposed to culminate in free elections at an unspecified future point.
Suu Kyi made her first public appearance since her 2003 detention when she stood at the gate of her Yangon home on Sept. 22 as several hundred pro-democracy demonstrators were allowed to march past her house.
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Associated Press reporter Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Suu Kyi's statement,
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