EU Extends Myanmar Sanctions, Urges Suu Kyi’s Release (Update1)

EU Extends Myanmar Sanctions, Urges Suu Kyi’s Release (Update1)
By James G. Neuger

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- European Union governments announced a 12-month extension of sanctions against the military rulers of Myanmar to protest the suppression of the pro- democracy movement led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The EU prolonged a ban on weapons sales to Myanmar, curbs on European financing for Myanmar’s state-run companies and a travel ban on junta leaders and top generals, foreign ministers said in a statement in Luxembourg today.

“Our basic calls for the rights of minorities and the rights of the opposition to be recognized remain very strong indeed,” U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters. “We have not forgotten the need for political reform.”

The military, in command of the nation of 48 million people since 1962, plans elections next year after adopting a new constitution that opposition groups have denounced as a sham.

The EU called for the release of political prisoners including Suu Kyi and said the leaders of Myanmar, once known as Burma, “have still to take the steps necessary to make the planned 2010 elections a credible, transparent and inclusive process.”

Two members of Suu Kyi’s party were arrested last week and charged with insulting religion after they prayed for the release of Myanmar’s 2,100 political prisoners, the Associated Press reported April 24. Suu Kyi, 63, has spent 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.