US Sends
Facts Finding Mission To Burma
The US says it is ready to send a fact finding mission to Burma.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia, Kurt
Campbell, said the trip would follow up on his talks in New York
last month, with a Burmese envoy U Thang, the highest US contact
with Burma's military government in nearly a decade.
Mr. Campbell said he expected engagement with Burma to be a
"long, slow and painful" process.
He said the American mission would talk to Burma's military
government, representatives of ethnic minorities, and the
pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed by the junta to meet senior Western
diplomats earlier this month for talks focused on the
long-standing Western sanctions.
The military regime has scheduled elections for next year which
the opposition National League for Democracy plans to shun.
BBC/Qasim/Yinka
