A US senator, Jim Webb, has become the first member of Congress to visit Burma in more than a decade.
He will meet with Burmese officials today, following on from Tuesday's conviction of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to a further 18 months house arrest after an American citizen swam to her home, violating the terms of her arrest.
Mr Webb arrived in the south Asian nation today, and was due to meet the country's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, later. The meeting will mark the first time a senior US official has met Burma's highest leader.
The US president Barack Obama called for talks between the two countries earlier this year, but progress has been dampened by the trail of the country's detained opposition leader, Daw Suu Kyi. Her conviction has been widely criticised, having spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.
Larry Jagan, a Southeast Asia analyst, told the Al Jazeera news agency that 'there is a danger in reading too much into this visit'.
'We can't say there's going be a major shift in policy for the Obama administration and the Myanmar government,' he said.
'But this visit is extremely important because not even the UN envoy to Myanmar [Ibrahim Gambari] gets to see Than Shwe.'
The US is Burma's strongest critic on the country's poor human rights record.
He will meet with Burmese officials today, following on from Tuesday's conviction of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was sentenced to a further 18 months house arrest after an American citizen swam to her home, violating the terms of her arrest.
Mr Webb arrived in the south Asian nation today, and was due to meet the country's leader, Senior General Than Shwe, later. The meeting will mark the first time a senior US official has met Burma's highest leader.
The US president Barack Obama called for talks between the two countries earlier this year, but progress has been dampened by the trail of the country's detained opposition leader, Daw Suu Kyi. Her conviction has been widely criticised, having spent 14 of the last 20 years under house arrest.
Larry Jagan, a Southeast Asia analyst, told the Al Jazeera news agency that 'there is a danger in reading too much into this visit'.
'We can't say there's going be a major shift in policy for the Obama administration and the Myanmar government,' he said.
'But this visit is extremely important because not even the UN envoy to Myanmar [Ibrahim Gambari] gets to see Than Shwe.'
The US is Burma's strongest critic on the country's poor human rights record.
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