U.S. officials in Myanmar for talks

YANGON, Myanmar, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Two senior U.S. officials arrived in Myanmar Tuesday under Washington's new policy of engaging with that country's military leaders.

Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who arrived with his deputy, Scot Marciel, is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Myanmar since 1995.

The two planned to meet with Prime Minister Thein Sein and Myanmar's most well-known person, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in September her government would try to directly engage with the military leaders of Myanmar while keeping the current sanctions against that country, formerly called Burma, CNN reported.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

The BBC quoted Larry Dinger, deputy chief of the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, as telling the semi-official Myanmar Times the United States wants to make progress on "important issues" but would maintain sanctions "until concrete progress is made."

Any breakthrough in talks between the two countries, however, is seen as being a long way off.

The 64-year-old Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years and her detention was extended by 18 months this year. Her spokesman says she has accepted the shift in U.S. policy, CNN reported.