US special envoy to head for Myanmar

WASHINGTON: The new US pointman on Myanmar will depart Wednesday on his first trip to the country since taking up the post, for talks with its military-backed government, the State Department has announced.

Derek Mitchell, a veteran policymaker on Asia, was last month appointed the first US coordinator for policy on Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, as part of US President Barack Obama's strategy to engage with the Southeast Asian nation.

"His trip is intended to build upon US dialogue and engagement toward shared goals of genuine reform, reconciliation, and development for the Burmese people," the State Department said Tuesday in a statement.

Mitchell will attend meetings in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on September 9-10 and hold discussions in Yangon on the following four days.

In his Senate confirmation hearing in June, Mitchell said he would seek "direct and candid" dialogue with Myanmar's leaders but that the US should be flexible in its approach.
Mitchell's appointment filled a post created when Congress, under then-president George W. Bush, approved a wide-ranging law on Myanmar in 2008 that tightened sanctions against its then military-led government.

The position was not filled at the time due to a political dispute, but after Obama took office in January 2009, his administration changed tack, concluding that the sanctions aimed at isolating Myanmar had been ineffective.

Myanmar's now nominally civilian government has recently shown signs it wants to improve its image by reaching out to critics such as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who met President Thein Sein for the first time last month.

Suu Kyi was released by the then-military government in November, ending seven straight years of house arrest, just days after an election that was marred by allegations of cheating and which was won by the military's political proxies.

The new administration is dominated by former generals.

-AFP/wk

Source : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1151544/1/.html