BURMA: DOCTOR VISITS AUNG SAN SUU KYI BUT REVEALS

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000866 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP AND IO; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/06/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM BM SUBJECT: BURMA: DOCTOR VISITS AUNG SAN SUU KYI BUT REVEALS LITTLE REF: RANGOON 843 Classified By: Pol Officer Sean O'Neill for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) In a brief telephone conversation with a member of our P/E staff, Dr. Tin Myo Win (aka Douglas) confirmed that he visited Aung San Suu Kyi on November 6. Douglas' visit is consistent with what he told us in August: that the regime has agreed to allow ASSK regular medical visits at the beginning of each month. He informed us that ASSK is in good health, but would not say anything more before he hung up. Our attempts to re-contact Douglas were unsuccessful. NLD spokesman Nyan Win told us he has not been able to reach Douglas and has no additional information about the visit. ¶2. (C) With the exception of today's brief conversation, Douglas has been extremely reluctant to answer or return the over dozen calls we have made to him since our last conversation on September 11. Our British, Australian, Norwegian, and European Commission counterparts similarly report an inability to contact or meet with Douglas in the past month. The British POLOFF recently told us that in her last meeting with Douglas in August, he said that ASSK had asked him to keep a low profile and that he had been cautioned by the regime to avoid contact with foreign diplomats (reftel). ¶3. (C) We will continue to follow up and will report any additional information. DINGER