Obama holds talks with Myanmar democracy champion Suu Kyi
YANGON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama began talks Friday with Myanmar's democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, in a show of support for the opposition leader as the nation turns towards elections next year with uncertainty over the direction of reforms.
Obama met fellow Nobel laureate Suu Kyi at her lakeside villa in Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, after arriving from the capital Naypyidaw where he discussed the nation's troubled reform process with President Thein Sein.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party is widely expected to sweep polls in late 2015, but its figurehead is banned from the presidency by a constitutional clause.
Obama and Suu Kyi are due to hold a press conference after their talks in the garden of her villa in a reprise of their landmark meeting in 2012 which saw the US leader throw his political might behind Myanmar's transition from junta rule.
After talks with his counterpart Thein Sein late Thursday Obama expressed cautious optimism hope for the once- cloistered nation that balanced out earlier warnings on the risks of '' backsliding'' on the transition.
'' The democratic process in Myanmar is real,'' Obama said.
''We recognise change is hard and you do not always move in a straight line but I'm optimistic.''
During his two-night trip to Myanmar the US leader has also raised alarm over the direction of reforms, however, citing the cramping of freedom of expression, ongoing conflicts and the treatment of Myanmar's minority groups – especially the Muslim Rohingya.