Sen. McConnell to go to Burma, meet Aung San Suu Kyi

WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is traveling to Burma for his first face-to-face meeting with pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose cause he has championed for nearly two decades.

McConnell is visiting the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Myanmar, as its long-time military regime has taken steps to ease repression and institute some reforms.

Suu Kyi, who was under house arrest for years, announced earlier this week that she and her party would participate in Burma's April by-elections for parliament.

"It's exciting," McConnell said in an exclusive interview in his U.S. Capitol office as he prepared for a 90-minute meeting with Sui Kyi on Sunday night at her home in Rangoon.

"Candidly, I never really thought there was much chance that things were going to change" in Burma, McConnell said.

But there clearly is a reform faction in the Burmese military, he said, "and we are pulling for that faction to continue to prevail."

Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962 and has been considered a major human-rights violator. Opponents have been imprisoned, raped and killed, while ethnic minorities have been persecuted. The country also has been in economic shambles.

Suu Kyi was elected the nation's leader in 1990 but was never allowed to take office. Instead, her National League for Democracy was suppressed, some members killed, and Suu Kyi subjected to the first of many detentions.

It was the crackdowns on mass demonstrations in 1988, resulting in more than 3,000 deaths, that sparked McConnell's interest in Burma and Suu Kyi.

McConnell first co-sponsored a resolution urging sanctions against the junta in Rangoon in 1993. Congress adopted sanctions three years later.

The senator also has sponsored Senate provisions calling on the regime to release Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 "for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights."

Now Myanmar has been undergoing some political changes.

One early sign of change was the release of Suu Kyi from 15 years of house arrest in November 2010.

In March 2011, Thein Sen, a former military official, became Burma's civilian president, and he has been instituting some reforms, including allowing more public discussion about the nation's problems and publication of divergent views.

He hosted Suu Kyi at his home in August 2011. Dozens of political prisoners were freed in October, but the United States government estimates that about 1,000 remain behind bars.

In December, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first American official to visit Burma in a half century.

Clinton and Suu Kyi instantly connected, according to published reports. The pair held a news conference during which Clinton said she thought the government was making progress but needed to implement additional reforms. She also said Suu Kyi would be "an excellent member of the parliament."

The United States also is providing $1.2 million in aid to Burma for small loans and health care.

Earlier this week, Suu Kyi announced she has decided to run for a seat in the new parliament in an April by-election. The government approved the participation of Suu Kyi's party last week.