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