A European Union delegation was expected Tuesday in Rangoon for talks with Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. The delegation is led by Robert Cooper, a special adviser to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. The delegation was in the administrative capital of Naypyitaw Monday to meet with Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and other top officials.
Before traveling to Burma, the delegates said they wanted to see whether the country's new government is serious about democratic reform. A long-ruling junta handed over power at the end of March to a new administration made up mostly of its own supporters. In Rangoon, the delegation is also expected to meet members of the National League for Democracy, the influential opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi. A party spokesman told the Burmese exile newspaper The Irrawaddy that the party wanted to speak to the Europeans about new fighting between government forces and ethnic-based armies in the north of the country.