Myanmar: Suu Kyi ‘concerned’ for democratic reforms

Pro-Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has met William Hague in Myanmar during the first visit by a British foreign secretary since 1955.

The visit is also the first by any senior EU figure and follows a recent trip by Hillary Clinton, indicating a warming of relations between the country – also known as Burma – and the west.

Hague has welcomed a pledge by President Thein Sein that more political prisoners will be released, and indicated this could have a possitive effect on sanctions put on the country.

However, in an interview just before the meeting with the British foreign secretary, Suu Kyi warned that the reforms are still fragile:

“Mainly I’m concerned about how much support there is in the military for changes,” she said. “In the end that’s the most important factor. How far are the military prepared to cooperate with the reform process?”

As an independence day gesture 900 prisoners were released last week, but it is believed that only about a dozen of them, if any, were political prisoners.

Meanwhile between 600 and 1,000 people from the 2007 anti-government protests remain behind bars.

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