First senior US official to visit in more than 50 years hopes 'flickers of progress ? will be ignited into movement for change'
Hillary Clinton's arrival in Burma made her the first leading US official to visit the isolated south Asian country in more than 50 years.
The high-risk visit by the US secretary of state, the first since since John Foster Dulles in 1955, is aimed at consolidating tentative democratic reforms in Burma, which has been ruled by a brutal military regime for decades, and rolling back Chinese influence in the resource-rich state.
During the three-day visit, Clinton will see President Thein Sein, the former leader of the military junta credited with pushing through recent reforms, and Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate and opposition leader who has spent much of the last 21 years in jail or under house arrest.
President Barack Obama announced the trip at a regional summit in November as part of a broader policy of increasing US engagement in Asia. The US, as well as the EU and Canada, has imposed sanctions against Burma for decades because of widespread human rights abuses. The Burmese authorities hope to get the sanctions removed and in recent months Sein's nominally civilian government has been more tolerant of criticism, halted an unpopular dam project, loosened restrictions on the internet and reached out to Aung San Suu Kyi.
The administration was appointed after parliamentary polls, described as rigged by observers, last year. "I am obviously looking to determine ... what is the intention of the current government with respect to continuing reforms," Clinton told reporters before her arrival. "We and many other nations are quite hopeful that these flickers of progress ... will be ignited into a movement for change that will benefit the people of the country."
Clinton was forced to hurry her departure from the first stop on her tour, South Korea, to reach Burma before sundown as the remote capital's airfield has no runway lights. The small airport in Naypyidaw, a city carved out of scrub and farmland over the last nine years, was adorned with portraits of the prime minister of Belarus, who arrives today on a separate visit. Like Burma, Belarus is often criticised for its poor human rights record and is subject to American and EU sanctions.
The motorcade carrying Clinton bumped along a recently-built but uneven highway past rice fields and building sites. At each intersection, police solemnly held up their hands to stop non-existent traffic in a city with few people and fewer cars.
The country's deep economic problems and the rise of a set of younger military officers convinced of the need to end Burma's isolation are two reasons for the radical shifts seen over the last 18 months, according to observers. The army still dominates almost all institutions and much of the economy. Though 300 prisoners have been released in an amnesty, more than 1,500 remain behind bars, human rights campaigners say.
US officials insist the regime needs to release all political prisoners and make progress in ending bloody conflicts with ethnic minority groups before Washington can consider lifting sanctions.
There were reports of intense battles between fighters from the Kachin ethnic minority and government forces on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Kachin Independence Organisation, one of the largest armed ethnic opposition groups in Burma, said it welcomed Clinton's visit and hoped the "US can make Burma change towards democracy. The conflict has become serious and the need to solve it is urgent." There are fears that the visit will legitimise the government, which maintains control on almost all levers of power. Alan Saw U, a community organiser from the Karen ethnic group in Rangoon, said he wanted Clinton "to focus on democratisation. We don't want her visit to be ... abused by the ruling authorities."
Dr Tint Swe, an exiled democracy activist in Delhi, said there remained "huge mistrust of the military among the people of Burma".
Clinton will travel to the main commercial city of Rangoon on Thursday and make an offering at the imposing Swedagon Pagoda where the golden spire is a revered symbol of Burma's nationhood.
Her meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi are likely to be seen as the highlight of the visit. An informal dinner on Thursday and a more formal encounter on Friday morning are planned.
Aung San Suu Kyi recently announced that she would re-enter politics and will contest byelections in the coming months. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), boycotted the flawed elections in November 2010 but is now officially registered. The military regime cancelled 1990 elections that the NLD won. "Aung San Suu Kyi is critical [for the government] because they need her. She is the regime's passport to legitimacy and that is a very powerful weapon for her," said Shyam Saran, a former Indian foreign secretary and ambassador to Burma in the late 1990s.
Sara Olsen is a pseudonoym for a journalist working in Burma
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/30/hillary-clinton-burma-visit-reform-hopes
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