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Yangon: Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday that she is "very optimistic" about the UN-promoted effort to start a dialogue between the military government and pro-democracy forces, but appeared reconciled to remaining under house arrest.
Suu Kyi made her observations in a meeting with top executives of her National League for Democracy party, who were allowed contact with her for the first time in more than three years.
Suu Kyi looked "fit, well and energetic like before. She is full of ideas," said party spokesman Nyan Win, who attended the hour-long meeting at a government guest house along with three top party members.
Suu Kyi was taken to the guest house from her home nearby where she is kept under house arrest.
Dialogue
Their meeting, from which public and press were kept well away, was permitted by the government after UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari on Thursday completed a six-day visit to Myanmar to promote a dialogue between the ruling junta and Suu Kyi.
Nyan Win, speaking after he and his colleagues met for about an hour with Suu Kyi, said the 1991 Nobel peace laureate believes the military authorities now have the will to achieve national reconciliation.
He said she told her fellow party leaders that the government's crackdown on September's mass pro-democracy demonstrations was "devastating for the NLD, the government and the people". "She said a healing process such as the release of political prisoners is essential," according to Nyan Win.
Difficult to estimate
Myanmar held more than 1,100 political prisoners before the crackdown, and the number now is difficult to estimate. Thousands of people have been rounded up since late September, though the government says most have been released. Suu Kyi also held talks with Aung Kyi, who was appointed the junta's "minister for relations" with the former Nobel Peace Prize winner last month amid the severe worldwide criticism of the junta.
Appearing to concede that she will remain detained for the immediate future, she told her colleagues that she will ask for two liaison officers of her choice to help her communicate with them. She said she will also ask Aung Kyi to make arrangements so that she can see the other party leaders whenever necessary.
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