Hillary Clinton meets Aung San Suu Kyi II

On 30th November 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar.

It was the first visit by a senior US official in 56 years - the last time was when secretary of state under President Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles visithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifed in 1955.

On 1st December 2011, Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi met for the first time ever.

On 2nd December 2011, they met for the second time for a final meeting at Suu Kyi's home, effectively her prison until she was released last November after years in detention.

Clinton held hands with Suu Kyi on the porch the latter's lakeside home — where she spent much of the past two decades under house arrest — and thanked her for her "steadfast and very clear leadership." The pair appeared to have bonded almost as sisters after a private, one-on-one dinner on Thursday. After the meeting, they embraced and seemed visibly moved by their encounter.

"You have been an inspiration but I know that you feel you are standing for all the people of your country who deserve the same rights and freedoms as people everywhere," Clinton told Suu Kyi, adding, "the people have been courageous and strong in the face of great difficulty over too many years. We want to see this country take its rightful place in the world."

Photos of the 2nd meeting:

Hillary Clinton meets Aung San Suu Kyi I

On 30th November 2011, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar.

It was the first visit by a senior US official in 56 years - the last time was when secretary of state under President Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles visited in 1955.

On 1st December 2011, Mrs Clinton then met privately with Nobel laureate & pro-democracy leader Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi for dinner at the lakeside residence of the senior American diplomat in Myanmar. It was their first meeting, though they had previously spoken by telephone, and the two women greeted each other warmly. Mrs. Clinton recalled a signed poster from a women’s conference in Beijing when she was first lady, which Madeleine K. Albright, the secretary of state at the time, sent to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. She responded that the poster remained on the wall of one of her offices. “I am very happy to meet you, finally,” Mrs. Clinton said.

They met again on Friday 2nd December for a final meeting at Suu Kyi's home, effectively her prison until she was released last November after years in detention.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy will contest coming by-elections for parliament - seen as the next key test of the government's reform program - and Suu Kyi herself has said she will stand for election, another sign that the pro-democracy leader believes the changes under way are real.