US and British diplomats frequent visitors to Myanmar opposition

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/258830,us-and-british-diplomats-frequent-visitors-to-myanmar-opposition.html


Posted : Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:23:52 GMT
Author : DPA

Yangon - Myanmar's state-run media on Saturday accused the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) of taking instructions from the United States and Britain, noting that the countries' embassy officials had visited the party's Yangon headquarters 21 times last month. "During their visits, they met with central executive committee members of the party and gave large and small envelops and parcels to the latter," said The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece of Myanmar's military-run government.

Washington and London have made no secret of their support for the NLD, which won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked by the military junta from taking power for the past 19 years.

The two governments have also been among the most outspoken in calling for the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May 2003 and has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention.

Western diplomats based in Yangon, Myanmar's former capital and largest city, have difficulty obtaining permission to visit Myanmar government officials, most of whom are now based in Naypyitaw, the military's new capital, 350 kilometres north of Yangon.

To date, no embassies have moved to Naypyitaw.

Access to NLD headquarters, is considerably easier.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi is kept under house arrest in Yangon in her family compound a few kilometres from from the US embassy.

She has been detained in near-complete isolation for nearly six years with occasional visits from her private doctor.

On Thursday, Suu Kyi was allowed a visit by her regular doctor, Tin Myo Win, and an eye specialist, who declared her in good health, officials said.

Tin Myo Win was last permitted to visit Suu Kyi on January 1.

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