Activist Aung San Suu Kyi in first U.S. visit

Los Angeles Times

NEW DELHI -- Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi's first U.S. visit in decades, which started yesterday, could prompt a further easing of U.S. economic sanctions against Myanmar, analysts said, although the visit is likely to serve mainly as a victory lap for the Nobel laureate celebrated by Republicans and Democrats alike.

During her six-stop trip over nearly three weeks, Suu Kyi is expected to meet with President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest U.S. civilian award. She also may spend a night in the White House and be feted at a dinner attended by former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and Microsoft's Bill Gates.

The Obama administration is keen to highlight her visit as a foreign policy success, analysts said, given her role in pushing the long-isolated pariah state, also known as Burma, to open its doors, legalize protest, ease media restrictions and release hundreds of political prisoners.

"It should be quite a good visit for Obama," said Sean Turnell, editor of the Burma Economic Watch website and a professor at Australia's Macquarie University. "Burma policy, it's one little corner of the world getting a little bit better on his watch."

Suu Kyi's visit overlaps with a three-day trip by Burmese President Thein Sein to the United Nations, and there's the chance she will upstage him, despite his work pushing through reforms.

Most economic sanctions against Myanmar have been eased, leaving in place a 2003 U.S. import ban and various restrictions on visas and bank transactions affecting Burmese generals and others linked to human rights abuses.

There's a good chance the Obama administration will call for an end to the import ban, analysts say, perhaps tied to the release of remaining political prisoners, during Suu Kyi's visit, but leave in place restrictions on individuals. A permanent repeal of the import ban must go through Congress.