Yangon: Democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi leaves Myanmar on Sunday for her first visit in two decades to the United States, where she will be garlanded by supporters keen to discuss the progress of reforms in the former junta-ruled nation.
The Nobel laureate, who was elected to parliament this year, will travel to Washington to meet US President Barack Obama whose government has been at the forefront of Western re-engagement with the long-time military dominated country.
She will also be showered in awards including the Congressional Gold Medal, the top honour bestowed by the US Congress, and meet Burmese diaspora groups as far apart as New York and San Francisco.
During her near three-week trip Suu Kyi is likely to be quizzed about reforms that have seen Myanmar take tentative steps onto the global stage after decades under a secretive military regime.
“I think Daw Suu can talk at least about the reforms situation in Myanmar. She will get this opportunity,” Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party told AFP, using a common honorific for the Nobel laureate.
The opposition leader will travel with just three other people, he added, and is expected to arrive in Washington tomorrow. Despite the predicted red carpet welcome her visit is laced with potential political trouble.
Suu Kyi’s stay coincides with that of Myanmar’s President Thein Sein, who is due in the US later in the month to attend the United Nations General Assembly
Horsey said it would be “particularly unhelpful” if the US president chose to meet Myanmar’s democracy champion but not its leader, “which unfortunately looks to be the case”.
The 67-year-old could also face tricky questions on the treatment of stateless Rohingya Muslims after a wave of deadly communal violence in western Myanmar.
Suu Kyi has remained cautious in her comments about the group, who many in Myanmar believe are foreigners and therefore not entitled to citizenship.
Last week the US embassy in Yangon expressed its “great concern” at the humanitarian situation in Rakhine state. (AFP)