Webb arrives in Myanmar for talks with leaders

YANGON, Myanmar — Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade, arrived in the military-ruled country’s remote capital Friday to meet junta leaders, officials said.

The visit follows Tuesday’s conviction of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with an American citizen, and the beginning of another 18-month house arrest stint for the Nobel Peace Prize winner. The conviction has drawn sharp criticism from world leaders and human rights groups.

Webb flew in a U.S. military aircraft straight from Laos to the administrative capital of Naypyitaw, said Myanmar officials who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Bilateral relations have been strained since the military took power in 1988 after brutally crushing pro-democracy protests, killing as many as 3,000 people. Washington is Myanmar’s strongest critic and applies political and economic sanctions against the junta for its poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

Suu Kyi had been under her latest period of house arrest since 2003, but was taken to Yangon’s Insein Prison in May to be tried after American citizen John Yettaw secretly swam to her house and spent two days there. Both Yettaw and Suu Kyi were found guilty of violating the terms of her detention.

The Noble laureate has spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.

Authorities on Thursday told senior party members of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy they will be taken to Naypyitaw to meet “some VIPs,“ party spokesman Nyan Win said.

Asked if NLD executive committee members were going to meet Webb, Nyan Win said, “We have no interest in Jim Webb because he is not known to have any interest in Myanmar affairs.“ He did not elaborate.

Webb, a Vietnam War veteran, is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee.

According to the program, Webb will also meet members of the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry before leaving Sunday.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The junta called elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi’s party won overwhelmingly.