October 3, 2009
YANGON (AFP) - Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi had a rare meeting with a minister from the ruling junta Saturday, a Myanmar official said.
The opposition leader, who is currently detained under house arrest, was in talks with Aung Kyi, the labour minister and official liaison between Suu Kyi and the government, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi are meeting now at the state guest house. They met at about 1pm," (0630 GMT) he said.
The pair last had a meeting in January 2008, and the matters under discussion on Saturday were not immediately clear.
It emerged last week that Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the last 20 years under house arrest, wrote to military regime leader Than Shwe offering suggestions about how to get Western sanctions against the country lifted.
"I don't know clearly what they discussed but I think it will be related to her letter," her lawyer Nyan Win said on hearing of Saturday's meeting.
Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi met for about 45 minutes, he added.
The Nobel Laureate's easing of her stance on sanctions, after years of espousing punitive measures against the ruling generals, came as the US unveiled a major policy shift to re-engage with the junta.
Although Tuesday it held its highest-level talks with Myanmar in nearly ten years, the US has warned against lifting sanctions until the junta moves on democracy.
