US senator says Suu Kyi may ease sanctions stance

[August 17, 2009]  BANGKOK (AP) -- A U.S. senator who called for a "new approach" to dealing with Myanmar said Monday that the country's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi indicated she would not oppose the lifting of some U.S. sanctions on the junta.

Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia ended an extraordinary trip to Myanmar on Sunday, during which he held a rare meeting with the Nobel Peace laureate as well as the leader of the government that has detained her for 14 of the past 20 years.

Webb also secured the release of an ailing American, who was convicted of helping Suu Kyi violate the terms of her house arrest and sentenced to seven years last week. John Yettaw, of Falcoln, Mo., was undergoing medical tests in Bangkok on Monday.

Myanmar has borne international censure and increasing isolation since the army barred Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy from taking power even after the party won a 1990 election.

The United States and other Western nations maintain political and economic sanctions against the military regime because of its poor human rights record and failure to relinquish power.

Webb, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, maintains that the sanctions have failed to move Myanmar toward democratic reforms and is seeking to amend U.S. policy, currently under review by the Obama administration.

He said that the junta's agreement to free Yettaw into his custody and allow him a rare visit with Suu Kyi are gestures that could lead to closer engagement with Myanmar's military government. His meeting Saturday with Than Shwe was the first time the reclusive general has met with a senior U.S. political figure.

Suu Kyi is known to support Western sanctions against her country's government, although her precise position is difficult to discern because she has not been able to speak publicly since she was last taken into detention in May 2003.

Webb, in a press conference Monday in Bangkok, said he wanted to be careful not to misrepresent Suu Kyi's views, but it was his "clear impression from her that she is not opposed to lifting some sanctions," and that "there would be some areas she would be willing to look at."

He said the sanctions issue was not specifically raised in his talk with Than Shwe, "although obviously it's the elephant in the bedroom."

He declined to reveal details of his talks with Suu Kyi and Than Shwe, saying that he will report to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when he returns to Washington. Clinton has said the U.S. is reviewing its Myanmar policy, suggesting that sanctions have not worked, though she also pointed to the trial against Yettaw and Suu Kyi as unhelpful.

Yettaw, a 53-year-old former contractor, was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest and related charges, and given seven years' imprisonment with hard labor.

He had been apprehended in May as he was swimming away from Suu Kyi's residence, where he sheltered for two days after sneaking in uninvited.

Suu Kyi was sentenced to three years in prison with hard labor for violating her house arrest conditions, although that was reduced to 18 months under house arrest by Than Shwe.

Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home was seen by many of the junta's critics as giving it a legal pretext to keep the Nobel laureate incarcerated through next year's general election. Yettaw testified that he had a vision that Suu Kyi was at risk from assassins, and visited her to warn her.

Yettaw's family in the United States said he was not in good health after three months in a Myanmar prison.

"Our first priority is ensuring the health of Mr. Yettaw," said Cynthia Brown, the U.S. Embassy spokeswoman in Bangkok, who declined to say where Yettaw was receiving medical care or when he was expected to return home.

Myanmar state television said Sunday night that Yettaw was freed on humanitarian grounds because of his health. He suffers from diabetes and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.

His ex-wife, Yvonne, said she had spoken to his current wife, Betty Yettaw, of Camdenton, Mo., who said she talked with her husband in Bangkok.

Yvonne said Betty told her they were running medical tests on John in a Bangkok hospital, but did not know what for. "But he is not in good health," said Yvonne Yettaw, of Palm Springs, Calif.

Yvonne Yettaw also said the family has to pay for his ticket home and there have been some complications trying to schedule a flight, so it is unclear when he will be returning.

[Associated Press; By GRANT PECK]

Associated Press writer Maria Sudekum Fisher in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.

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