US eases some restrictions on Myanmar after election
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Washington - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the United States would begin to ease some restrictions on Myanmar after by-elections in the Asian nation earlier this week that saw a landslide victory for the opposition party of Aung
Calling the elections a "dramatic demonstration of popular will that brings a new generation of reformers into government," Clinton said the poll was the kind of progress the US had hoped to see as it shifted its policy toward the country also known as Burma.
Clinton said the US would nominate a fully-accredited ambassador to the country, establish a US Agency for International Development mission, allow private US non-profit groups to work there, lift travel bans on select government officials and parliamentarians, and ease a ban on financial transactions.
Clinton travelled to Myanmar late last year to meet with President Thein Sein and Suu Kyi, becoming the first secretary of state to do so in 56 years. The US had earlier announced a resumption of diplomatic relations with the country.
European Union foreign ministers will review a further easing of their own diplomatic sanctions on Myanmar later this month. Suu Kyi's party won all but two seats contested in the by-election and she has declared her party's victory a triumph for the people of Myanmar.
The polls were deemed an important litmus test for the political reform programme initiated by Thein Sein, sworn in just over a year ago, who paved the way for Suu Kyi's entry into mainstream politics after two decades of restrictions on her activities and those of her party members.
