Suu Kyi backs US-Myanmar engagement

[bemildred]

Source: Al Jazeera

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Myanmese opposition leader, has welcomed the announcement of a shift in US policy towards engagement with the south-east Asian nation.

Suu Kyi's comments, released by her lawyer on Thursday, came a day after Washington mooted a potential easing of sanctions if engagement with Naypyidaw brings political reform.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said that direct engagement is good ... but must be with both sides ," Nyan Win, her lawyer, told the AFP news agency after meeting her at her home in Yangon.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, acknowledged that the past US policy of isolation and punishment against Myanmar had failed to produce desired results, and said tWashington would now engage directly with the country's military government.

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/09/2009924125645138807.html