Myanmar military leader to visit India

Myanmar military leader to visit India

MYANMAR: Gen. Than Shwe will pay the first visit by a Myanmar head of state to India in a quarter of a century, an Indian diplomat said.

The visit by the head of Myanmar's military government suggests ties between the two neighbors are warming rapidly, is due to start on Oct. 24 and to last five days, the diplomat said late on Monday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, the ministry's senior civil servant, told Reuters during a visit to Yangon he had handed over an invitation and it had been accepted. He declined to elaborate.

But an Indian diplomat said Than Shwe "will be leaving for India on Oct. 24 for a five-day visit".

Traditionally close relations soured after the current military regime came to power in Myanmar in 1988 and accused India of giving refuge to dissidents who fled after the military crushed a pro-democracy uprising in August that year. --Reuters