No Decision on Dialogue with Burma: US

WASHINGTON — The administration of US President Barack Obama said on Friday that no decision has been taken on how the next round of dialogue with the Burmese authorities will be organized or who will be participating in it.

The first round of US-Burma talks were held in New York last month, and according to an unnamed Burmese official quoted in an Associated Press report, senior US officials will visit Burma for further talks next week.

“We hope that that dialogue will entail face-to-face meetings in Burma, but we still have not decided how exactly that dialogue will be organized,” US State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly told reporters during his daily press briefing on Friday.

When asked about the talks held in New York recently—the first since the administration announced its new Burma policy, which involves engaging the military junta—Kelly described them as “positive.”

“I don’t know if I would characterize it as progress. We have begun the dialogue, which is positive. But we are still working out exactly where we will go from here. As I say, we hope to be able to continue the dialogue. But nothing is confirmed at this point,” Kelly said.

Earlier this week, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, who recently led talks with Burmese military leaders, confirmed that the US intended to pursue further dialogue with the junta.

Appearing before a Congressional panel early this week, Campbell said: “We intend to go to Burma in the next few weeks for a fact-finding mission.”

The Associated Press reported from Rangoon that a “high-ranking US official” would visit next week as part of the new approach by Washington, which has shunned Burma in the past. The name of the US official was not released by the unnamed Burmese official quoted in the report.