US Secretary of State makes historic visit to Myanmar

Hilary Clinton arrived this afternoon in the southeast Asian nation of also known as Burma. Her visit is the first by a U.S. Secretary of State in over 50 years. She will meet senior Myanmar officials tomorrow before heading to the commercial capital of Yangon, where she will see opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is returning to the political scene after years of detention and harassment. In a web broadcast this afternoon, Suu Kyi said she will run in upcoming by-elections and is confident that democracy will come to the military-dominated county

Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK, spoke to us about the United States goals for Clinton’s visit: “The U.S. has said very clearly it wants to see real, practical, irreversible change, an end to ethnic conflict, it wants to see the release of all political prisoners, genuine dialogue process. And also for the U.S. they’re very concerned about the relationship that Burma has with North Korea, the lack of any transparency on that relationship.”

He said the visit is a response to steps by the Burmese government: “At the same time, this is a reward for the government of Burma. The U.S. is saying we’re not prepared to relax the tough economic sanctions yet, because you haven’t made enough progress. But by having the secretary of state visit, this is a big coup for the government of Burma.”

Listen to the complete interview of Mark Farmaner with Christopher Wells: