Long and messy?
In public, Mrs Clinton wouldn't be drawn on what she thought of Thein Sein, saying she judged people by their actions. She did appear to have made a connection with the president's wife, chatting to her intently on the way to lunch and again on the way out to the car.
Burmese journalists took pictures of her black limousine parked outside the presidential palace surrounded by a moat. The president, his wife and their entourage, stood by on the steps watching the departing motorcade drive away over the bridge. Thein Sein, a small bespectacled man wearing the traditional skirt-like Burmese lungi, waved back to occupants in one of the vans, looking slightly forlorn in front of his giant marble palace.
While Burma's president has said he is determined to pursue reforms, observers believe he doesn't have the temperament needed to push beyond the initial stages of a process that will be long and could be messy, since not everybody in his government is on board.
After their meeting at Ms Suu Kyi's lakeside home, Mrs Clinton and Mrs Suu Kyi spoke to the media.
The pro-democracy activist, whose party won elections in 1990 when she was under house arrest, has said she will run in the upcoming parliamentary elections. There were hints of an electoral campaign in her statement as she called for equal rights for all ethnic communities in this "union of many people".
When BBC interviewed Mrs Clinton, said she did not give Ms Suu Kyi any advice about running a campaign but that they discussed how challenging a political process can be.
Despite Ms Suu Kyi's win in 1990, the military junta did not recognise the results and has remained in power ever since.
Standing on the porch of her ageing two-storey home, Ms Suu Kyi clasped hands with Mrs Clinton as she thanked the US for its help and its ''calibrated" approach to re-engagement with Burma's government.
Mrs Clinton tentatively leaned forward to hug the diminutive activist and was embraced back warmly. The two women then exploded in laughter before walking away together, like two long-lost sisters.
Burmese journalists took pictures of her black limousine parked outside the presidential palace surrounded by a moat. The president, his wife and their entourage, stood by on the steps watching the departing motorcade drive away over the bridge. Thein Sein, a small bespectacled man wearing the traditional skirt-like Burmese lungi, waved back to occupants in one of the vans, looking slightly forlorn in front of his giant marble palace.
While Burma's president has said he is determined to pursue reforms, observers believe he doesn't have the temperament needed to push beyond the initial stages of a process that will be long and could be messy, since not everybody in his government is on board.
After their meeting at Ms Suu Kyi's lakeside home, Mrs Clinton and Mrs Suu Kyi spoke to the media.
The pro-democracy activist, whose party won elections in 1990 when she was under house arrest, has said she will run in the upcoming parliamentary elections. There were hints of an electoral campaign in her statement as she called for equal rights for all ethnic communities in this "union of many people".
When BBC interviewed Mrs Clinton, said she did not give Ms Suu Kyi any advice about running a campaign but that they discussed how challenging a political process can be.
Despite Ms Suu Kyi's win in 1990, the military junta did not recognise the results and has remained in power ever since.
Standing on the porch of her ageing two-storey home, Ms Suu Kyi clasped hands with Mrs Clinton as she thanked the US for its help and its ''calibrated" approach to re-engagement with Burma's government.
Mrs Clinton tentatively leaned forward to hug the diminutive activist and was embraced back warmly. The two women then exploded in laughter before walking away together, like two long-lost sisters.
Comments