U.S. Senator in Myanmar to Meet Leader

[Coventina]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — An American senator arrived in Myanmar on Friday to meet with the leader of the junta there, just days after the country’s pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was convicted and returned to house arrest in a case that drew international condemnation.

The senator, Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, plans to meet with the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, this weekend. He will be the highest ranking American official to do so in at least a decade. Senior administration officials, speaking anonymously because of the sensitive nature of the trip, said Mr. Webb was traveling independently and “not carrying a message from the administration,” although he was briefed by the State Department before he left.

Mr. Webb flew in a United States military aircraft from Laos to Myanmar’s remote administrative capital of Naypyidaw, The Associated Press reported, quoting Myanmar officials who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.

The Web site for the senator said that Mr. Webb is scheduled to meet with reporters on Sunday at the Yangon International Airport, in Myanmar’s main city, before he leaves for Bangkok as part of a five-nation Asia tour that will conclude in Cambodia and Vietnam.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/world/asia/15myanmar.html