Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Myanmar's military leader for first time
Opposition leader Suu Kyi and military chief set to meet for first time at unprecedented gathering
Myanmar's president and its powerful military chief will hold an unprecedented meeting today to address cracks widening in the fledgling democracy ahead of an election next year.
The talks will see opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi meet Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for the first time - dialogue the Nobel laureate has sought since she became a lawmaker in 2012.
Today's hastily arranged get-together in the capital, Naypyidaw, comes as a complex peace process with armed ethnic rebels teeters on the brink of collapse.
Tensions also linger over moves by Suu Kyi's party - backed by five million petitioners - to amend the constitution and reduce the political clout of the military, which ruled Myanmar brutally for 49 years.
The meeting takes place as US President Barack Obama prepares to visit Myanmar next month for a regional summit amid growing US concerns about human rights abuses.
These include the jailing of journalists and alleged oppression of stateless Rohingya Muslims and ethnic minorities caught in conflict with government troops.
President Thein Sein, a former junta general, has been praised for widespread reforms since taking power in 2011 and convincing the West to suspend most sanctions, but critics say those changes are now starting to unravel.