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Suu Kyi offers to work with Burma generals
Ed Harris16 Nov 2009
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested a meeting with the military regime's senior leader, adding to signs that lines of communication are opening up between her and the junta.
The 64-year-old Nobel peace laureate says that she wants to work with the government of Than Shwe, the head of state.
She has spent more than 14 of the past 20 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.
Ms Suu Kyi wrote: "I would like to earnestly request permission to meet you so that we can talk about co- operating with the State Peace and Development Council [the government] in working in the interest of the nation."
At the weekend, Barack Obama offered the prospect of better ties with Washington if Burma pursued democratic reform and freed political prisoners, including Ms Suu Kyi.
The US President delivered his message in a meeting with Thein Sein, the prime minister, during closed talks with leaders of 10 south-east Asian nations in Singapore.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said Mr Obama raised the issue "directly" with the general.
Lawyers for Ms Suu Kyi have lodged an appeal against the 18-month extension, in August, of her house arrest.
If she is not freed she will miss next year's planned elections.
She has spent more than 14 of the past 20 years in detention, mainly house arrest.
