Bangkok, Aug 30: A European Union (EU) delegation would visit Myanmar next month, returning after a March trip when it campaigned for democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, officials said on Friday. The delegation would have representatives from the Danish presidency, the future presidency Greece, the European Commission, and the Council Secretariat which serviced the Council of Ministers, said a Danish embassy spokesman.

The spokesman said that the delegation's itinerary in Yangon during the September 8-10 trip was not yet finalised, but they would be hoping to meet Aung San Suu Kyi as they had done on previous visits.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

"We hope and expect them to meet a significant representation of relevant political players in Rangoon (Yangon) like last time," he said, adding they could include United Nations agencies and non-governmental organisations.

The delegates also plan to see the other top members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

During the last EU mission, the delegation pushed for the release of political prisoners, including the opposition leader herself who had been confined to her lakeside home since October 2000.

After she was freed in May, Aung San Suu Kyi said that the release of all political prisoners in the country was her party's top priority.

She has recently hinted that a mass prisoner release, to clear the jails of an estimated 1,500 dissidents, would be a precondition to her beginning a long awaited dialogue with the regime. Bureau Report