Myanmar leaders summon US diplomat; junta chief agrees to meet activist

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The top US diplomat in Myanmar was summoned for rare talks Friday with Myanmar's hardline government a day after its leader announced a conditional offer to meet with detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Shari Villarosa, the highest American official in Myanmar, received word Thursday that she had been invited to meet with the military-led government that orchestrated a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last week, the State Department said in Washington. Villarosa has been a vocal critic of the crackdown. During her visit, Villarosa was expected to repeat the US view that the regime must meet with democratic opposition groups and "stop the iron crackdown" on peaceful demonstrators, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.