One World - South Asia - Army attacks displace thousands of civilians in Myanmar
19 August 2009
While the world’s attention was focused on the trial and subsequent sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese army was quietly busy in crushing ethnic minorities, says Human Rights watch. Last three weeks have seen the displacement of more than 10,000 ethnic Shans.
New York: Burmese army attacks against ethnic Shan civilians in northeastern Burma (Myanmar) have displaced more than 10,000 people in the past three weeks, Human Rights Watch has said.
It has called on Burma's military government to immediately end attacks against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law.
Following democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence last week to return to house arrest on August 11, Human Rights Watch reiterated its call to the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Burma.
It also calls to create a commission of inquiry to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by all parties to the fighting in Burma's ethnic minority areas.
"While the world has been focused on the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese troops have been battering civilians as part of the military government's longstanding campaign against ethnic minorities," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Marginalised and brutalised
"These attacks in Shan state should remind the international community that in addition to the persecution of the Burmese political opposition, Burma's ethnic minorities are systematically marginalised and brutalised by the Burmese government and army."
According to credible reports by Shan human rights groups, the Burmese army, or Tatmadaw, has deployed seven army battalions to clear civilians from large areas of Laikha township and parts of Mong Kerng township in central Shan state between July 27 and August 1.
Troops have reportedly burned down more than 500 houses as they attacked 39 villages in the area. Human Rights Watch believes this recently scaled-up forced relocation operation is part of an intensified counterinsurgency campaign, as Tatmadaw units attack the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), an insurgent armed group that operates in the area.
The SSA-S has been conducting deadly ambushes regularly for years and on July 15, SSA-S forces attacked the 515th Light Infantry Battalion in Laikha, killing 11 Tatmadaw soldiers. There are reports that many of the displaced civilians are moving toward the Thailand-Burma border.
The Thailand-Burma Border Consortium annual internal displacement survey reports that more than 13,000 civilians were displaced in 2008 in Laikha and surrounding townships because of increased Tatmadaw operations against the SSA-S. This follows years of similar operations.
Between 1996 and 1998, the Tatmadaw effectively cleared central Shan state of its civilian population. Burmese army forces have been responsible for deliberate attacks on civilians, summary executions, rape, torture, destruction and forced relocation of villages, and use of child soldiers and forced labor. More than 350,000 civilians were forcibly displaced during that campaign, many of them becoming refugees in neighboring Thailand.
Flouting the laws of war
"While the Burmese Army flouts the laws of war, Shan civilians pay the price," said Adams.
"The ongoing Burmese army attacks in Shan state demonstrate the vicious modus operandi of the Tatmadaw and its disdain for the lives and well-being of civilians."
Recent attacks by the Tatmadaw and their proxy forces, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, forced some 5,000 ethnic Karen across the border into Thailand in June. The civilians, mostly women and children, were fleeing fighting, forced labour, and the widespread sowing of landmines.
According to the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium's annual survey, nearly half a million people are internally displaced in eastern Burma, either in government relocation sites, within non-state armed groups ceasefire zones, or in so-called free-fire areas highly vulnerable to Tatmadaw patrols that maintain an unlawful "shoot on sight" policy against civilians.
Human Rights Watch has documented abuses against civilians in ethnic areas of Karen state in eastern Burma and in Chin state in western Burma. Abuses such as extrajudicial killings, torture and beatings, and confiscation of land and property continue with impunity.
The refugee problem
There are more than 140,000 Burmese refugees along the Thailand border in nine temporary refugee camps. Although 50,000 refugees have been resettled to third countries like the United States, Norway, and Canada, more refugees continue to arrive, fleeing the armed conflict in eastern Burma.
Thailand does not recognise people from Shan state as refugees, and refuses to permit the establishment of refugee camps for ethnic Shan, fearing a larger influx of civilians fleeing repression from northeastern Burma.
Instead, those Shan who reach Thailand eke out an existence as migrant workers, often without legal status.
Human Rights Watch called on the government of Thailand to offer sanctuary to refugees fleeing abuses in Shan state in accordance with international law.
Although Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, it is bound by the customary international law prohibition against returning people to countries where they face persecution.
Institute commission of inquiry
Human Rights Watch reiterated its calls to the United Nations Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and to pursue a comprehensive arms embargo against Burma.
Human Rights Watch said that Burma should become a regular topic for discussion on the Security Council agenda, to pressure the Burmese government to respect basic freedoms of its citizens and continue to inform Security Council members of its progress. Security Council Resolution 1674 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict states that "peace and security, development and human rights are the pillars of the United Nations and the foundations for collective security."
A May 2009 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, "Crimes in Burma", reviewed United Nations human rights reports for several years and concluded that human rights abuses are widespread, systematic, and part of state policy. The report, endorsed by five eminent international jurists, cited cases of forced relocation, sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, and torture. It similarly called for a commission of inquiry to be established by the Security Council to investigate potential crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
Human Rights Watch said an arms embargo could stop the supply of weapons, military assistance, and technology that enable continued attacks against civilians in ethnic conflict areas. China and Russia, both of whom supply weapons to Burma, are the military government's main diplomatic supporters and continue to block stronger international action against the ruling junta.
On August 13, the UN Security Council issued a weak press statement on Burma that both "reiterate[s] the importance of the release of all political prisoners," but also affirms Security Council members' "commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Burma.
"The UN Security Council should end its inaction and authorise a commission of inquiry into human rights abuses and enforce an arms embargo," said Adams.
"This will not happen unless China and Russia stop protecting Burma's generals."
Source : Human Rights Watch
19 August 2009
While the world’s attention was focused on the trial and subsequent sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese army was quietly busy in crushing ethnic minorities, says Human Rights watch. Last three weeks have seen the displacement of more than 10,000 ethnic Shans.
New York: Burmese army attacks against ethnic Shan civilians in northeastern Burma (Myanmar) have displaced more than 10,000 people in the past three weeks, Human Rights Watch has said.
It has called on Burma's military government to immediately end attacks against civilians and other violations of international humanitarian law.
Following democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence last week to return to house arrest on August 11, Human Rights Watch reiterated its call to the United Nations Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Burma.
It also calls to create a commission of inquiry to investigate possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by all parties to the fighting in Burma's ethnic minority areas.
"While the world has been focused on the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese troops have been battering civilians as part of the military government's longstanding campaign against ethnic minorities," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
Marginalised and brutalised
"These attacks in Shan state should remind the international community that in addition to the persecution of the Burmese political opposition, Burma's ethnic minorities are systematically marginalised and brutalised by the Burmese government and army."
According to credible reports by Shan human rights groups, the Burmese army, or Tatmadaw, has deployed seven army battalions to clear civilians from large areas of Laikha township and parts of Mong Kerng township in central Shan state between July 27 and August 1.
Troops have reportedly burned down more than 500 houses as they attacked 39 villages in the area. Human Rights Watch believes this recently scaled-up forced relocation operation is part of an intensified counterinsurgency campaign, as Tatmadaw units attack the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), an insurgent armed group that operates in the area.
The SSA-S has been conducting deadly ambushes regularly for years and on July 15, SSA-S forces attacked the 515th Light Infantry Battalion in Laikha, killing 11 Tatmadaw soldiers. There are reports that many of the displaced civilians are moving toward the Thailand-Burma border.
The Thailand-Burma Border Consortium annual internal displacement survey reports that more than 13,000 civilians were displaced in 2008 in Laikha and surrounding townships because of increased Tatmadaw operations against the SSA-S. This follows years of similar operations.
Between 1996 and 1998, the Tatmadaw effectively cleared central Shan state of its civilian population. Burmese army forces have been responsible for deliberate attacks on civilians, summary executions, rape, torture, destruction and forced relocation of villages, and use of child soldiers and forced labor. More than 350,000 civilians were forcibly displaced during that campaign, many of them becoming refugees in neighboring Thailand.
Flouting the laws of war
"While the Burmese Army flouts the laws of war, Shan civilians pay the price," said Adams.
"The ongoing Burmese army attacks in Shan state demonstrate the vicious modus operandi of the Tatmadaw and its disdain for the lives and well-being of civilians."
Recent attacks by the Tatmadaw and their proxy forces, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, forced some 5,000 ethnic Karen across the border into Thailand in June. The civilians, mostly women and children, were fleeing fighting, forced labour, and the widespread sowing of landmines.
According to the Thailand-Burma Border Consortium's annual survey, nearly half a million people are internally displaced in eastern Burma, either in government relocation sites, within non-state armed groups ceasefire zones, or in so-called free-fire areas highly vulnerable to Tatmadaw patrols that maintain an unlawful "shoot on sight" policy against civilians.
Human Rights Watch has documented abuses against civilians in ethnic areas of Karen state in eastern Burma and in Chin state in western Burma. Abuses such as extrajudicial killings, torture and beatings, and confiscation of land and property continue with impunity.
The refugee problem
There are more than 140,000 Burmese refugees along the Thailand border in nine temporary refugee camps. Although 50,000 refugees have been resettled to third countries like the United States, Norway, and Canada, more refugees continue to arrive, fleeing the armed conflict in eastern Burma.
Thailand does not recognise people from Shan state as refugees, and refuses to permit the establishment of refugee camps for ethnic Shan, fearing a larger influx of civilians fleeing repression from northeastern Burma.
Instead, those Shan who reach Thailand eke out an existence as migrant workers, often without legal status.
Human Rights Watch called on the government of Thailand to offer sanctuary to refugees fleeing abuses in Shan state in accordance with international law.
Although Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, it is bound by the customary international law prohibition against returning people to countries where they face persecution.
Institute commission of inquiry
Human Rights Watch reiterated its calls to the United Nations Security Council to establish a commission of inquiry into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma and to pursue a comprehensive arms embargo against Burma.
Human Rights Watch said that Burma should become a regular topic for discussion on the Security Council agenda, to pressure the Burmese government to respect basic freedoms of its citizens and continue to inform Security Council members of its progress. Security Council Resolution 1674 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict states that "peace and security, development and human rights are the pillars of the United Nations and the foundations for collective security."
A May 2009 report by the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, "Crimes in Burma", reviewed United Nations human rights reports for several years and concluded that human rights abuses are widespread, systematic, and part of state policy. The report, endorsed by five eminent international jurists, cited cases of forced relocation, sexual violence, extrajudicial killings, and torture. It similarly called for a commission of inquiry to be established by the Security Council to investigate potential crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.
Human Rights Watch said an arms embargo could stop the supply of weapons, military assistance, and technology that enable continued attacks against civilians in ethnic conflict areas. China and Russia, both of whom supply weapons to Burma, are the military government's main diplomatic supporters and continue to block stronger international action against the ruling junta.
On August 13, the UN Security Council issued a weak press statement on Burma that both "reiterate[s] the importance of the release of all political prisoners," but also affirms Security Council members' "commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Burma.
"The UN Security Council should end its inaction and authorise a commission of inquiry into human rights abuses and enforce an arms embargo," said Adams.
"This will not happen unless China and Russia stop protecting Burma's generals."
Source : Human Rights Watch
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US man heads home after release from Myanmar jail
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – 18 mins ago
BANGKOK (AP) – American John Yettaw boarded a flight home Wednesday, ending an infamous journey that started three months ago with a secret swim to the home of Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that landed them both in prison.
Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced last week to seven years of hard labor but freed Sunday with the help of a visiting U.S. senator.
Meanwhile, democracy icon Suu Kyi and her two live-in aides remain in detention because of Yettaw's visit — a turn of events that the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate called "very ugly," according to her lawyers.
Yettaw, who is reportedly in poor health, flew with Sen. Jim Webb to neighboring Thailand on a U.S. government plane and underwent two days of medical tests at a private Bangkok hospital.
Seated in a wheelchair and wearing a face mask, Yettaw said "Love you!" to an Associated Press reporter before heading onto a United Airlines flight Wednesday morning. He repeatedly flashed the sign language symbol for "I love you," but made no other comments.
Dressed in a rumpled white shirt and tan pants, Yettaw looked pale and haggard. Asked about his health, he pointed to an IV inserted in the back of his right hand.
A woman who identified herself as a nurse held Yettaw's other hand as he was wheeled to a business class lounge at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport and told a reporter "he needs rest."
Yettaw was ticketed through to Springfield, Missouri in a business class seat, with stops in Tokyo and Chicago, according to airline officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose his itinerary.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said she "cannot confirm his travel plans due to privacy concerns."
In early May, Yettaw traveled to Myanmar and donned homemade flippers for a nighttime swim to Suu Kyi's lakeside home. The bizarre incident led to trial that sparked global condemnation in which Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months of detention for breaching the terms of her house arrest. She has already spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
Yettaw testified that he was on a divine mission to save Suu Kyi, saying he had a "vision" she was going to be assassinated and wanted to warn her. Suu Kyi testified that she repeatedly asked Yettaw to leave but relented because he complained of exhaustion and she was concerned for his safety. Suu Kyi's two assistants who live with her received the same sentence.
"It's very ugly that the person who caused the problem was released but the three people in the house remain detained," Suu Kyi said, according to attorney Nyan Win who visited her Monday.
Myanmar has said that Yettaw was freed on humanitarian grounds and because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during his trial after suffering seizures.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The junta last called elections in 1990 but refused but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's opposition party won overwhelmingly.
Diplomats and Myanmar experts widely believe Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep her locked up through general elections scheduled for next year, which will be the first in two decades.
When Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, visited Myanmar last weekend he was given unprecedented access. He held rare meetings with both Suu Kyi and the country's reclusive leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, becoming the first senior U.S. politician to meet the junta chief.
The junta's uncharacteristic hospitality has fueled questions over whether this could mark a turning point in Myanmar-U.S. relations and lead to a softening of longtime sanctions — a prospect academics say is unlikely as long as the junta ignores international demands to free Suu Kyi ahead of 2010 elections.
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer – 18 mins ago
BANGKOK (AP) – American John Yettaw boarded a flight home Wednesday, ending an infamous journey that started three months ago with a secret swim to the home of Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi that landed them both in prison.
Yettaw, 53, of Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced last week to seven years of hard labor but freed Sunday with the help of a visiting U.S. senator.
Meanwhile, democracy icon Suu Kyi and her two live-in aides remain in detention because of Yettaw's visit — a turn of events that the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate called "very ugly," according to her lawyers.
Yettaw, who is reportedly in poor health, flew with Sen. Jim Webb to neighboring Thailand on a U.S. government plane and underwent two days of medical tests at a private Bangkok hospital.
Seated in a wheelchair and wearing a face mask, Yettaw said "Love you!" to an Associated Press reporter before heading onto a United Airlines flight Wednesday morning. He repeatedly flashed the sign language symbol for "I love you," but made no other comments.
Dressed in a rumpled white shirt and tan pants, Yettaw looked pale and haggard. Asked about his health, he pointed to an IV inserted in the back of his right hand.
A woman who identified herself as a nurse held Yettaw's other hand as he was wheeled to a business class lounge at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport and told a reporter "he needs rest."
Yettaw was ticketed through to Springfield, Missouri in a business class seat, with stops in Tokyo and Chicago, according to airline officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose his itinerary.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Cynthia Brown said she "cannot confirm his travel plans due to privacy concerns."
In early May, Yettaw traveled to Myanmar and donned homemade flippers for a nighttime swim to Suu Kyi's lakeside home. The bizarre incident led to trial that sparked global condemnation in which Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months of detention for breaching the terms of her house arrest. She has already spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention.
Yettaw testified that he was on a divine mission to save Suu Kyi, saying he had a "vision" she was going to be assassinated and wanted to warn her. Suu Kyi testified that she repeatedly asked Yettaw to leave but relented because he complained of exhaustion and she was concerned for his safety. Suu Kyi's two assistants who live with her received the same sentence.
"It's very ugly that the person who caused the problem was released but the three people in the house remain detained," Suu Kyi said, according to attorney Nyan Win who visited her Monday.
Myanmar has said that Yettaw was freed on humanitarian grounds and because of his health. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during his trial after suffering seizures.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The junta last called elections in 1990 but refused but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's opposition party won overwhelmingly.
Diplomats and Myanmar experts widely believe Yettaw's intrusion into Suu Kyi's home gave the junta a legal pretext to keep her locked up through general elections scheduled for next year, which will be the first in two decades.
When Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, visited Myanmar last weekend he was given unprecedented access. He held rare meetings with both Suu Kyi and the country's reclusive leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, becoming the first senior U.S. politician to meet the junta chief.
The junta's uncharacteristic hospitality has fueled questions over whether this could mark a turning point in Myanmar-U.S. relations and lead to a softening of longtime sanctions — a prospect academics say is unlikely as long as the junta ignores international demands to free Suu Kyi ahead of 2010 elections.
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China failing on Myanmar, key US senator says
1 hr 4 mins ago
HANOI (AFP) – China has failed to show leadership in solving the political stalemate in Myanmar, a United States senator who made a landmark visit to the military-ruled country said in Vietnam Wednesday.
Senator Jim Webb arrived in Vietnam after securing at the weekend the release of an American man who swam to the house of Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
During his Myanmar visit, Webb became the first US official to speak with the junta's reclusive leader, Than Shwe.
The senator also met Suu Kyi without winning freedom for the Nobel laureate, whose house arrest was extended over the bizarre stunt by John Yettaw.
"When I returned to Bangkok from Myanmar I raised my view at that time, with respect to the issues in Myanmar, that the Chinese government should step forward and show leadership in assisting in solving that situation, and they have not done that yet," Webb told a Hanoi press conference on the last leg of a two-week Southeast Asian tour.
Beijing has long helped keep Myanmar afloat through trade ties, arms sales, and by shielding it from United Nations sanctions over rights abuses. China is a veto-wielding, permanent member of the Security Council.
The European Union, United States and other countries have targeted Myanmar with economic sanctions and travel bans but the military regime has so far proven impervious to these, partly due to support from nations including China.
While the US Congress has overwhelmingly backed trade restrictions against Myanmar, Webb has been a critic of sanctions and said in Bangkok that they had allowed Beijing to increase "dramatically" its influence in Myanmar.
The administration of President Barack Obama, particularly Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has indicated it is not keen on using sanctions as a diplomatic tool.
Webb, a Democrat and former Marine who served in Vietnam, chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia.
Yettaw flew home to the US on Wednesday after receiving medical tests in Bangkok but Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, sentenced earlier this month to a further 18 months because of Yettaw's actions.
The ruling means she will be locked up during elections promised by the ruling junta in 2010.
Webb, who first returned to Vietnam 18 years ago, was to visit government officials and business leaders on his latest trip.
Asked whether he would seek the release of any Vietnamese prisoners, he said discussions over the political evolution of communist Vietnam are "an ongoing process" but he was not raising the matter on this trip.
In July, a group of US lawmakers said they were calling for the release of more than 100 non-violent Vietnamese political prisoners, some of them held for criticising the government, as part of an annual September 2 amnesty.
Vietnam says it does not punish anyone for political views and only prosecutes criminals for breaking the law.
Webb also visited Laos and Cambodia as part of his five-nation Southeast Asian tour whose purpose was "to emphasise how important Southeast Asia is to the United States".
He noted that Secretary of State Clinton has twice visited the region this year, showing "how we want to reinvigorate, from the United States' perspective, our relations in this region".
Clinton's signing in July of a friendship pact with Southeast Asia sent a strong signal of the US desire to deepen ties and counter China's increasing influence, diplomats said.
1 hr 4 mins ago
HANOI (AFP) – China has failed to show leadership in solving the political stalemate in Myanmar, a United States senator who made a landmark visit to the military-ruled country said in Vietnam Wednesday.
Senator Jim Webb arrived in Vietnam after securing at the weekend the release of an American man who swam to the house of Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
During his Myanmar visit, Webb became the first US official to speak with the junta's reclusive leader, Than Shwe.
The senator also met Suu Kyi without winning freedom for the Nobel laureate, whose house arrest was extended over the bizarre stunt by John Yettaw.
"When I returned to Bangkok from Myanmar I raised my view at that time, with respect to the issues in Myanmar, that the Chinese government should step forward and show leadership in assisting in solving that situation, and they have not done that yet," Webb told a Hanoi press conference on the last leg of a two-week Southeast Asian tour.
Beijing has long helped keep Myanmar afloat through trade ties, arms sales, and by shielding it from United Nations sanctions over rights abuses. China is a veto-wielding, permanent member of the Security Council.
The European Union, United States and other countries have targeted Myanmar with economic sanctions and travel bans but the military regime has so far proven impervious to these, partly due to support from nations including China.
While the US Congress has overwhelmingly backed trade restrictions against Myanmar, Webb has been a critic of sanctions and said in Bangkok that they had allowed Beijing to increase "dramatically" its influence in Myanmar.
The administration of President Barack Obama, particularly Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has indicated it is not keen on using sanctions as a diplomatic tool.
Webb, a Democrat and former Marine who served in Vietnam, chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia.
Yettaw flew home to the US on Wednesday after receiving medical tests in Bangkok but Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, sentenced earlier this month to a further 18 months because of Yettaw's actions.
The ruling means she will be locked up during elections promised by the ruling junta in 2010.
Webb, who first returned to Vietnam 18 years ago, was to visit government officials and business leaders on his latest trip.
Asked whether he would seek the release of any Vietnamese prisoners, he said discussions over the political evolution of communist Vietnam are "an ongoing process" but he was not raising the matter on this trip.
In July, a group of US lawmakers said they were calling for the release of more than 100 non-violent Vietnamese political prisoners, some of them held for criticising the government, as part of an annual September 2 amnesty.
Vietnam says it does not punish anyone for political views and only prosecutes criminals for breaking the law.
Webb also visited Laos and Cambodia as part of his five-nation Southeast Asian tour whose purpose was "to emphasise how important Southeast Asia is to the United States".
He noted that Secretary of State Clinton has twice visited the region this year, showing "how we want to reinvigorate, from the United States' perspective, our relations in this region".
Clinton's signing in July of a friendship pact with Southeast Asia sent a strong signal of the US desire to deepen ties and counter China's increasing influence, diplomats said.
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ASEAN debates calling on Myanmar to free Suu Kyi
Wed Aug 19, 7:13 am ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Senior Southeast Asian officials are meeting in Jakarta to debate whether to call on Myanmar to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Indonesia said on Wednesday.
Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was sentenced last week to a further 18 months of house arrest for violating an internal security law after an American man swam to her lakeside home uninvited.
Senior officials from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) were meeting for dinner on Wednesday and then will hold more talks on Thursday, possibly going into Friday, to discuss sending a letter to Myanmar's ruling junta.
"They will seek to ask Myanmar to give amnesty but that's in principle only. I don't know exactly how it will be reflected in the letter," foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said by telephone, adding he was unsure whether the letter would also call for amnesty for other political prisoners.
"I suspect it will be Suu Kyi. I don't know if it will touch on all political prisoners."
Suu Kyi's sentence means she will be unable to take part in an election next year that have already been dismissed by critics as a sham aimed at legitimizing the army's grip on power.
Faizasyah would not be drawn on speculation that the meeting would be evenly split on the issue, with Myanmar and countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos expected to oppose the move.
"The 50-50 calculation of positions cannot yet be verified as the Senior Officials Meeting, one of the possible avenues to discuss it, has yet to meet," he said.
The regional grouping, unlike many Western nations, has so far given only a timid rebuke of Myanmar by expressing "deep disappointment" over the issue, although members such as Indonesia appear keen to send a sterner message.
ASEAN has a policy of non-interference in its members' domestic affairs and is seen by some as a toothless talking shop.
Wed Aug 19, 7:13 am ET
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Senior Southeast Asian officials are meeting in Jakarta to debate whether to call on Myanmar to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Indonesia said on Wednesday.
Suu Kyi, who has spent 14 of the last 20 years in detention, was sentenced last week to a further 18 months of house arrest for violating an internal security law after an American man swam to her lakeside home uninvited.
Senior officials from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) were meeting for dinner on Wednesday and then will hold more talks on Thursday, possibly going into Friday, to discuss sending a letter to Myanmar's ruling junta.
"They will seek to ask Myanmar to give amnesty but that's in principle only. I don't know exactly how it will be reflected in the letter," foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said by telephone, adding he was unsure whether the letter would also call for amnesty for other political prisoners.
"I suspect it will be Suu Kyi. I don't know if it will touch on all political prisoners."
Suu Kyi's sentence means she will be unable to take part in an election next year that have already been dismissed by critics as a sham aimed at legitimizing the army's grip on power.
Faizasyah would not be drawn on speculation that the meeting would be evenly split on the issue, with Myanmar and countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos expected to oppose the move.
"The 50-50 calculation of positions cannot yet be verified as the Senior Officials Meeting, one of the possible avenues to discuss it, has yet to meet," he said.
The regional grouping, unlike many Western nations, has so far given only a timid rebuke of Myanmar by expressing "deep disappointment" over the issue, although members such as Indonesia appear keen to send a sterner message.
ASEAN has a policy of non-interference in its members' domestic affairs and is seen by some as a toothless talking shop.
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Time - Burma's Monks Carry On Democratic Fight vs. Junta
By HANNAH BEECH / SITTWE, BURMA – Tue Aug 18, 11:30 pm ET
The abbot leaned in but didn't bother to lower his voice. Around us were sitting half a dozen local Buddhist worshippers, including one man whose aggressive curiosity about my presence made him a likely informant for the notoriously repressive Burmese junta. No matter - the abbot had no time for fear. "This is a very famous monastery," he said, as I, the first foreign visitor to the monastery in many months, nodded. "Important people have come here throughout history: Nehru, Indira Gandhi and, of course, the Lady."
It was, in fact, the connection to Aung San Suu Kyi - the democracy icon known simply as "the Lady" in Burma, who on Aug. 11 was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest on charges condemned by leaders worldwide - that had led me to the Shwe Zedi monastery in the first place. Located in the crumbling Indian Ocean port town of Sittwe, Shwe Zedi was the monastery of U Ottama, one of Burma's most famous monks, whose pacifist resistance against the colonial British inspired independence hero Aung San, father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi. The political activism of the Shwe Zedi monks has continued into modern times; in 2002, this was one of the few places Suu Kyi visited in between stints of house arrest, and she called for political change from its lawn. In September 2007, Shwe Zedi was among the first in Burma to organize peaceful prodemocracy rallies, a doomed effort that ended in the junta gunning down unarmed demonstrators on the street. "At first, I was scared to join the protests," recalls a teenage monk who participated in the mass rallies. "But I had faith that even if it failed, it was better than doing nothing."
The generals who have ruled Burma since 1962 may have a harder time keeping the faith. Most Burmese are devout Buddhists, and the junta tries to burnish its image by plastering state-controlled newspapers with articles about its cash contributions to religious causes. But no amount of merit-making can erase the specter of regime goons massacring monks, as they did in 2007 and, even more violently, in 1988. Although a frightened hush followed the most recent crackdown, Suu Kyi's trial has ignited speculation that this time, the generals have gone too far - and that religious harmony has been disturbed. "Signs that the government in Burma is losing its power are everywhere," opined a June editorial in Mizzima, a leading Burmese dissident news website. "Why [is] a military government armed to the teeth very afraid of the gentle lady who speaks softly from behind bars, as well as barefoot monks who pray peacefully?"
Certainly, the signs from the heavens haven't been auspicious of late. On May 30, the revered Danoke pagoda on the outskirts of Rangoon suddenly collapsed, killing three and injuring dozens of others. Burmese with an eye for otherworldly coincidences noted that a recent ceremony for the pagoda had been presided over by none other than the wife of Than Shwe, the junta's supremo leader. Many ruling generals are known to consult astrologers - a previous junta head once denominated the Burmese currency by nine because he considered the number lucky - and the collapse of a pagoda after being blessed by a junta family member surely dented their sense of divine right. Then, on June 4, an elevator inside a 32-story Buddha statue in Sagaing division rapidly lost altitude, injuring several passengers. "Burmese people take omens very seriously," says a newspaper editor in Rangoon. "I can assure you that the generals are very worried."
In the aftermath of the crushed 2007 protests, Shwe Zedi, like many monasteries across the country, was forced to shutter for a month. Cautiously the faithful returned, but dozens of Sittwe monks are still missing, believed either to be toiling in labor camps or to have slipped into foreign exile. Yet the monks I spoke to seemed curiously unafraid to talk. "It is our responsibility to try to change our country," said a monk who sat cross-legged on the burnished teak floor of the 19th century monastery. "If the monkhood doesn't do it, who else will?" Another monk padded over to a bookcase and pulled out a Burmese-English dictionary, flipped through it and pointed to a word: democracy.
Perhaps their outspokenness is the legacy of their monastery's activism - or the knowledge that they carry far more legitimacy in the eyes of the Burmese people than does a clutch of army men.
In September 1988, in Burma's precursor to the Tiananmen Square massacre, hundreds - if not thousands - of people were slaughtered when troops opened fire on monks, students and other peaceful protesters in Rangoon, just days after predictions had abounded that the junta was on its last legs. Two years later, the ruling generals lost badly in elections to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, a clear indication of the public's disenchantment with army rule. The junta ignored the poll results and tightened its grip on power. In 2010, the regime promises another nationwide poll, the final step to building what it calls a "discipline-flourishing democracy." Few doubt that the generals will ensure their victory this time through intimidation or ballot-box-stuffing.
So what can the monks of Shwe Zedi do, besides silently point at words in a dictionary? I posed the question to the abbot, who replied, "Pray." The snooping man sitting near us, who had whipped out a camera to take photos of our meeting, smirked. As I left Shwe Zedi, the abbot handed me a slip of newspaper on which rolled a tiny ivory-hued bead. It was, he said, a bone relic of the Buddha, or at least it symbolized as much. I thanked him for the gift of luck. But I couldn't help thinking that the monks of Burma - not to mention the impoverished citizens kneeling around me in their frayed sarongs - will need the relic far more than I.
By HANNAH BEECH / SITTWE, BURMA – Tue Aug 18, 11:30 pm ET
The abbot leaned in but didn't bother to lower his voice. Around us were sitting half a dozen local Buddhist worshippers, including one man whose aggressive curiosity about my presence made him a likely informant for the notoriously repressive Burmese junta. No matter - the abbot had no time for fear. "This is a very famous monastery," he said, as I, the first foreign visitor to the monastery in many months, nodded. "Important people have come here throughout history: Nehru, Indira Gandhi and, of course, the Lady."
It was, in fact, the connection to Aung San Suu Kyi - the democracy icon known simply as "the Lady" in Burma, who on Aug. 11 was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest on charges condemned by leaders worldwide - that had led me to the Shwe Zedi monastery in the first place. Located in the crumbling Indian Ocean port town of Sittwe, Shwe Zedi was the monastery of U Ottama, one of Burma's most famous monks, whose pacifist resistance against the colonial British inspired independence hero Aung San, father of Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi. The political activism of the Shwe Zedi monks has continued into modern times; in 2002, this was one of the few places Suu Kyi visited in between stints of house arrest, and she called for political change from its lawn. In September 2007, Shwe Zedi was among the first in Burma to organize peaceful prodemocracy rallies, a doomed effort that ended in the junta gunning down unarmed demonstrators on the street. "At first, I was scared to join the protests," recalls a teenage monk who participated in the mass rallies. "But I had faith that even if it failed, it was better than doing nothing."
The generals who have ruled Burma since 1962 may have a harder time keeping the faith. Most Burmese are devout Buddhists, and the junta tries to burnish its image by plastering state-controlled newspapers with articles about its cash contributions to religious causes. But no amount of merit-making can erase the specter of regime goons massacring monks, as they did in 2007 and, even more violently, in 1988. Although a frightened hush followed the most recent crackdown, Suu Kyi's trial has ignited speculation that this time, the generals have gone too far - and that religious harmony has been disturbed. "Signs that the government in Burma is losing its power are everywhere," opined a June editorial in Mizzima, a leading Burmese dissident news website. "Why [is] a military government armed to the teeth very afraid of the gentle lady who speaks softly from behind bars, as well as barefoot monks who pray peacefully?"
Certainly, the signs from the heavens haven't been auspicious of late. On May 30, the revered Danoke pagoda on the outskirts of Rangoon suddenly collapsed, killing three and injuring dozens of others. Burmese with an eye for otherworldly coincidences noted that a recent ceremony for the pagoda had been presided over by none other than the wife of Than Shwe, the junta's supremo leader. Many ruling generals are known to consult astrologers - a previous junta head once denominated the Burmese currency by nine because he considered the number lucky - and the collapse of a pagoda after being blessed by a junta family member surely dented their sense of divine right. Then, on June 4, an elevator inside a 32-story Buddha statue in Sagaing division rapidly lost altitude, injuring several passengers. "Burmese people take omens very seriously," says a newspaper editor in Rangoon. "I can assure you that the generals are very worried."
In the aftermath of the crushed 2007 protests, Shwe Zedi, like many monasteries across the country, was forced to shutter for a month. Cautiously the faithful returned, but dozens of Sittwe monks are still missing, believed either to be toiling in labor camps or to have slipped into foreign exile. Yet the monks I spoke to seemed curiously unafraid to talk. "It is our responsibility to try to change our country," said a monk who sat cross-legged on the burnished teak floor of the 19th century monastery. "If the monkhood doesn't do it, who else will?" Another monk padded over to a bookcase and pulled out a Burmese-English dictionary, flipped through it and pointed to a word: democracy.
Perhaps their outspokenness is the legacy of their monastery's activism - or the knowledge that they carry far more legitimacy in the eyes of the Burmese people than does a clutch of army men.
In September 1988, in Burma's precursor to the Tiananmen Square massacre, hundreds - if not thousands - of people were slaughtered when troops opened fire on monks, students and other peaceful protesters in Rangoon, just days after predictions had abounded that the junta was on its last legs. Two years later, the ruling generals lost badly in elections to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, a clear indication of the public's disenchantment with army rule. The junta ignored the poll results and tightened its grip on power. In 2010, the regime promises another nationwide poll, the final step to building what it calls a "discipline-flourishing democracy." Few doubt that the generals will ensure their victory this time through intimidation or ballot-box-stuffing.
So what can the monks of Shwe Zedi do, besides silently point at words in a dictionary? I posed the question to the abbot, who replied, "Pray." The snooping man sitting near us, who had whipped out a camera to take photos of our meeting, smirked. As I left Shwe Zedi, the abbot handed me a slip of newspaper on which rolled a tiny ivory-hued bead. It was, he said, a bone relic of the Buddha, or at least it symbolized as much. I thanked him for the gift of luck. But I couldn't help thinking that the monks of Burma - not to mention the impoverished citizens kneeling around me in their frayed sarongs - will need the relic far more than I.
*********************************************************
August 19, 2009.
Unite the Union - Unite supports TUC’s condemnation of Aung San Suu Kyi sentence
Unite strongly supports the global condemnation of the Burmese regime and its systematic and brutal oppression of the Burmese people.
The military regime in Burma is one of the most brutal in the world, using its half million strong army to oppress its population. Despite appalling human rights violations, there is no UN global arms embargo on Burma. The brutal regime is still allowed to buy foreign weapons to commit horrific human rights abuses and spends nearly half its budget on the military.
Commenting on the sentencing of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to a further 18 months under house arrest, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“This verdict against Aung San Suu Kyi is a complete sham. It is a flimsy excuse to shut her out of sham elections next year, held under a sham constitution.
“It’s time to turn up the heat on the Burmese regime to force it to release all political prisoners, to allow unions to operate freely, to stop imposing forced labour on its citizens and to stop waging war against ethnic minorities in Burma.
“This regime spends nearly half of its budget on its military. The global community needs to unite and cut off the supply of arms to the regime, to force it to begin a genuine transition to democracy.
“The TUC backs the call for a UN global arms embargo against Burma, and we call on the UK and EU to support this and impose financial sanctions against this tyranny.”
Unite the Union - Unite supports TUC’s condemnation of Aung San Suu Kyi sentence
Unite strongly supports the global condemnation of the Burmese regime and its systematic and brutal oppression of the Burmese people.
The military regime in Burma is one of the most brutal in the world, using its half million strong army to oppress its population. Despite appalling human rights violations, there is no UN global arms embargo on Burma. The brutal regime is still allowed to buy foreign weapons to commit horrific human rights abuses and spends nearly half its budget on the military.
Commenting on the sentencing of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to a further 18 months under house arrest, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:
“This verdict against Aung San Suu Kyi is a complete sham. It is a flimsy excuse to shut her out of sham elections next year, held under a sham constitution.
“It’s time to turn up the heat on the Burmese regime to force it to release all political prisoners, to allow unions to operate freely, to stop imposing forced labour on its citizens and to stop waging war against ethnic minorities in Burma.
“This regime spends nearly half of its budget on its military. The global community needs to unite and cut off the supply of arms to the regime, to force it to begin a genuine transition to democracy.
“The TUC backs the call for a UN global arms embargo against Burma, and we call on the UK and EU to support this and impose financial sanctions against this tyranny.”
*********************************************************
THE NATION - The US lays down new rules of engagement on Burma
By KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
Published on August 19, 2009
KUDOS must go to Senator Jim Webb, the chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs for East and Southeast Asia, who secured the release of John Yettaw over the weekend on humanitarian grounds.
He also met with the Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, which was rather unusual at this juncture. But he failed to convince the Burmese junta leader General Than Shwe to give in to his third request - lifting her house arrest. As things stand, for the next eighteen months this issue will be the main focus of tense negotiations between the US and Burma, with far-reaching implications for Asean and regional players.
It was interesting to note that Than Shwe was silent on the issue of Suu Kyi's terms of house arrest. For Webb, it was a good sign, as he personally did not treat it as a rejection of any kind. As such, he still views the junta's attitude with optimism.
As a Vietnam War hero coupled with his experience in dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam War including sanctions, Webb is extremely confident that he can accomplish results in Burma - that is, increasing engagement, ending sanctions and bringing investment to the country. He hopes that such moves will reduce China's influence there, as well as in the region.
On that score, the Burmese have maximised Webb's visit, knowing full well his Vietnam history, senatorial power and close connections to both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. By backing Webb's initiative, Burma's junta has managed to kill quite a few birds with one stone. Firstly, it has somewhat altered its image of a pariah state into one of a goodwill state with a merciful leader. Secondly, the trip has helped the international community to refocus on ways to secure Suu Kyi's freedom. Certainly, nobody, except the junta leaders, knows what her fate will be in the coming days and weeks. Thirdly, the junta now has ample time until October to ponder its next move, especially in response to moves that come from Asean. Finally, it shows Burma's diplomatic finesse in broadening its international outlook by engaging with the US directly - which no one would have thought possible just a few days ago. North Korea has been trying to do this for decades but has not been very successful.
Apart from Suu Kyi's current house arrest, the junta knows that the international community will only accept an inclusive election, scheduled for next year, with the participation of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
During the meeting between Webb, Suu Kyi and members of the NLD, conditions under which they would participate in the election were discussed. They saw eye to eye that pushing for Suu Kyi's freedom will continue, and that ways must be found to ensure that the opposition is part of the electoral process. According to a well-informed diplomatic source, who asked not to be identified, Suu Kyi has declined to state her position on the upcoming election unless she has a party position.
At this juncture, it depends on how the US government wants to engage with Burma in the coming months, especially after its review on Burmese policy which has been delayed for months. Will Washington want to find an exit strategy for the regime it has condemned for decades?
If Webb has his way, he would like to do so. He would move forward to reduce sanctions and to provide additional incentives for the junta to respond constructively. His wartime experience taught him to take whatever one has and to work with it. Unfortunately, his maverick approach is not widely supported by the Burmese community in exile and colleagues in the US Congress.
With such a drastic development, Asean has a lot of catching up to do. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is seeking a consensus among the grouping to urge Burma to free Suu Kyi. But half of the Asean members (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Brunei) do not want such a statement. They consider it an infringement of national sovereignty.
In the coming days, the core Asean members have to decide if they want to hold a special ministerial meeting on Burma, as suggested by Malaysia. It is a Catch 22 situation for Asean. Holding such a ministerial meeting - known as a minus-x formula - would be unprecedented since the Cambodian conflict (1978-1992). It would also reveal the huge rift within Asean on the issue of Burma. After the Phuket meeting, Asean members agreed that Kasit should fly to Burma for further talks. However, like previous Asean efforts, without a strong and sustained Asean position, the junta leaders will just turn a blind eye, as they have always done.
With the US diplomatic offensive on Burma, China's role in and interest inside Burma will be exposed further. Webb has been bothered by China's ever-growing influence there. He has argued constantly that China's gain in Burma is at the expense of US strategic interests in the region. As a global power, he thinks Beijing should be doing more to push for national reconciliation and stability inside Burma.
With this new diplomatic pressure, China also needs to rethink its own Burmese strategy by collaborating more with Asean - something that Beijing has been avoiding.
The conventional wisdom has been that Asean has never attained a consensus view on Burma that China could back diplomatically. Now, with a new twist, the time has come for Asean and China to work together on Burma - not to placate the US effort but to maintain China's regional credibility.
By KAVI CHONGKITTAVORN
Published on August 19, 2009
KUDOS must go to Senator Jim Webb, the chairman of the US Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs for East and Southeast Asia, who secured the release of John Yettaw over the weekend on humanitarian grounds.
He also met with the Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, which was rather unusual at this juncture. But he failed to convince the Burmese junta leader General Than Shwe to give in to his third request - lifting her house arrest. As things stand, for the next eighteen months this issue will be the main focus of tense negotiations between the US and Burma, with far-reaching implications for Asean and regional players.
It was interesting to note that Than Shwe was silent on the issue of Suu Kyi's terms of house arrest. For Webb, it was a good sign, as he personally did not treat it as a rejection of any kind. As such, he still views the junta's attitude with optimism.
As a Vietnam War hero coupled with his experience in dealing with the aftermath of the Vietnam War including sanctions, Webb is extremely confident that he can accomplish results in Burma - that is, increasing engagement, ending sanctions and bringing investment to the country. He hopes that such moves will reduce China's influence there, as well as in the region.
On that score, the Burmese have maximised Webb's visit, knowing full well his Vietnam history, senatorial power and close connections to both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. By backing Webb's initiative, Burma's junta has managed to kill quite a few birds with one stone. Firstly, it has somewhat altered its image of a pariah state into one of a goodwill state with a merciful leader. Secondly, the trip has helped the international community to refocus on ways to secure Suu Kyi's freedom. Certainly, nobody, except the junta leaders, knows what her fate will be in the coming days and weeks. Thirdly, the junta now has ample time until October to ponder its next move, especially in response to moves that come from Asean. Finally, it shows Burma's diplomatic finesse in broadening its international outlook by engaging with the US directly - which no one would have thought possible just a few days ago. North Korea has been trying to do this for decades but has not been very successful.
Apart from Suu Kyi's current house arrest, the junta knows that the international community will only accept an inclusive election, scheduled for next year, with the participation of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
During the meeting between Webb, Suu Kyi and members of the NLD, conditions under which they would participate in the election were discussed. They saw eye to eye that pushing for Suu Kyi's freedom will continue, and that ways must be found to ensure that the opposition is part of the electoral process. According to a well-informed diplomatic source, who asked not to be identified, Suu Kyi has declined to state her position on the upcoming election unless she has a party position.
At this juncture, it depends on how the US government wants to engage with Burma in the coming months, especially after its review on Burmese policy which has been delayed for months. Will Washington want to find an exit strategy for the regime it has condemned for decades?
If Webb has his way, he would like to do so. He would move forward to reduce sanctions and to provide additional incentives for the junta to respond constructively. His wartime experience taught him to take whatever one has and to work with it. Unfortunately, his maverick approach is not widely supported by the Burmese community in exile and colleagues in the US Congress.
With such a drastic development, Asean has a lot of catching up to do. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is seeking a consensus among the grouping to urge Burma to free Suu Kyi. But half of the Asean members (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Brunei) do not want such a statement. They consider it an infringement of national sovereignty.
In the coming days, the core Asean members have to decide if they want to hold a special ministerial meeting on Burma, as suggested by Malaysia. It is a Catch 22 situation for Asean. Holding such a ministerial meeting - known as a minus-x formula - would be unprecedented since the Cambodian conflict (1978-1992). It would also reveal the huge rift within Asean on the issue of Burma. After the Phuket meeting, Asean members agreed that Kasit should fly to Burma for further talks. However, like previous Asean efforts, without a strong and sustained Asean position, the junta leaders will just turn a blind eye, as they have always done.
With the US diplomatic offensive on Burma, China's role in and interest inside Burma will be exposed further. Webb has been bothered by China's ever-growing influence there. He has argued constantly that China's gain in Burma is at the expense of US strategic interests in the region. As a global power, he thinks Beijing should be doing more to push for national reconciliation and stability inside Burma.
With this new diplomatic pressure, China also needs to rethink its own Burmese strategy by collaborating more with Asean - something that Beijing has been avoiding.
The conventional wisdom has been that Asean has never attained a consensus view on Burma that China could back diplomatically. Now, with a new twist, the time has come for Asean and China to work together on Burma - not to placate the US effort but to maintain China's regional credibility.
*********************************************************
The New York Times - Editorial: Visit to Myanmar
Published: August 18, 2009
Myanmar’s repressive government was uncharacteristically welcoming when Senator Jim Webb visited last weekend. The junta released an American prisoner. Its leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, held talks with Mr. Webb and allowed him to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years.
We hope this new attitude means that Myanmar’s leaders are looking for ways to lessen their isolation and are finally ready to loosen their iron grip. We encourage the Obama administration to test that proposition. But it is far too early to lift sanctions on one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes.
The seven-year sentence imposed on John Yettaw was cruel. The American, who suffers from post-traumatic stress, was convicted after swimming across a lake to visit Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, uninvited, at her home. The junta used the incident to add another 18 months to her detention, which now extends past next year’s general elections. She — and 2,000 other political prisoners — should be released immediately and allowed to engage in peaceful political activity.
Mr. Webb is right that American policy — Washington tries to isolate the junta, while Myanmar’s neighbors pursue engagement — has failed to bring change. The Obama administration’s policy review, on hold during Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, must be speeded up if Washington hopes to influence the elections.
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been a strong supporter of economic pressure. But Mr. Webb said she told him she “is not opposed to lifting some sanctions.” A statement issued by her lawyer on Tuesday suggests otherwise. We would like to hear her views directly.
Any change should begin with a dialogue to explore how relations might improve. The United States should press the junta to free Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and allow the opposition to participate in fair elections. It should make clear that it is prepared to begin lifting sanctions if the junta demonstrates its willingness to stop persecuting its own people. Washington must also make clear that it is closely monitoring reports of suspected nuclear cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea.
The administration must also persuade China (Myanmar’s major foreign investor), India and others to rethink their policies. If Washington is willing to open a dialogue with the generals, Myanmar’s neighbors must be willing to use their diplomatic and economic influence to press the generals toward a peaceful transition.
Published: August 18, 2009
Myanmar’s repressive government was uncharacteristically welcoming when Senator Jim Webb visited last weekend. The junta released an American prisoner. Its leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, held talks with Mr. Webb and allowed him to meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest for 14 of the last 20 years.
We hope this new attitude means that Myanmar’s leaders are looking for ways to lessen their isolation and are finally ready to loosen their iron grip. We encourage the Obama administration to test that proposition. But it is far too early to lift sanctions on one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes.
The seven-year sentence imposed on John Yettaw was cruel. The American, who suffers from post-traumatic stress, was convicted after swimming across a lake to visit Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, uninvited, at her home. The junta used the incident to add another 18 months to her detention, which now extends past next year’s general elections. She — and 2,000 other political prisoners — should be released immediately and allowed to engage in peaceful political activity.
Mr. Webb is right that American policy — Washington tries to isolate the junta, while Myanmar’s neighbors pursue engagement — has failed to bring change. The Obama administration’s policy review, on hold during Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s trial, must be speeded up if Washington hopes to influence the elections.
Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been a strong supporter of economic pressure. But Mr. Webb said she told him she “is not opposed to lifting some sanctions.” A statement issued by her lawyer on Tuesday suggests otherwise. We would like to hear her views directly.
Any change should begin with a dialogue to explore how relations might improve. The United States should press the junta to free Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and allow the opposition to participate in fair elections. It should make clear that it is prepared to begin lifting sanctions if the junta demonstrates its willingness to stop persecuting its own people. Washington must also make clear that it is closely monitoring reports of suspected nuclear cooperation between Myanmar and North Korea.
The administration must also persuade China (Myanmar’s major foreign investor), India and others to rethink their policies. If Washington is willing to open a dialogue with the generals, Myanmar’s neighbors must be willing to use their diplomatic and economic influence to press the generals toward a peaceful transition.
*********************************************************
ReliefWeb - Humanitarian Community in Myanmar reaffirm their commitment to bringing positive changes to the lives of the people
Source: United Nations Country Team in Myanmar
Date: 19 Aug 2009
Yangon, 19 August 2009 - At its inaugural commemoration of World Humanitarian Day today, the humanitarian aid community in Myanmar gathered together in Yangon, to pay tribute to their colleagues across the world who had lost their lives and had endured hardship and personal sacrifice to help those in need of help. They also paid tribute to the dedication of their colleagues in Myanmar, especially those who for the past 16 months since Cyclone Nargis, have been working hard in post-Nargis relief and recovery efforts.
"Especially in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, in spite of some of you suffering from personal loss and tragedy, you have been working beyond the call of duty to support the people in greater need in the cyclone-affected areas," said Mr. Bishow Parajuli, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and the Chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
The vital role that civil society plays in responding to humanitarian crises was underscored both by the Executive Director of Myanmar Red Cross Society, U Khin Maung Hla and the Chair of the Myanmar NGO Network, Dr. Myo Thant Tyn, who spoke from experiences of the humanitarian efforts after Cyclone Nargis.
"Unless we involve communities and the groups that form within them in identifying needs, implementing programmes, learning and reflecting about what works well and what does not work, programmes are not likely to succeed. Even worse, they have the potential to cause more harm than good," he said.
The occasion was also "an opportunity to reiterate the partnership that had been built through the humanitarian efforts in response to Cyclone Nargis – which included good cooperation between the Government, ASEAN, donors the UN, INGOs, local NGOs and the community," said Mr. Parajuli .
"Let us unite and continue our strong partnership to address these critical needs in the cyclone-affected areas. The affected population is awaiting our action to improve their lives," said Dr. Niken Gandini, who spoke on behalf of the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Secretary-General for post-Nargis Recovery in Myanmar.
Through partnership built on mutual trust, the humanitarian community here in Myanmar has proven its ability to effectively respond and deliver humanitarian assistance in close collaboration and coordination with Government authorities at all levels to the vulnerable people in their time of need.
Such partnership would need to continue to be strengthened, not only in the delta, but also in other parts of the country.
Source: United Nations Country Team in Myanmar
Date: 19 Aug 2009
Yangon, 19 August 2009 - At its inaugural commemoration of World Humanitarian Day today, the humanitarian aid community in Myanmar gathered together in Yangon, to pay tribute to their colleagues across the world who had lost their lives and had endured hardship and personal sacrifice to help those in need of help. They also paid tribute to the dedication of their colleagues in Myanmar, especially those who for the past 16 months since Cyclone Nargis, have been working hard in post-Nargis relief and recovery efforts.
"Especially in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, in spite of some of you suffering from personal loss and tragedy, you have been working beyond the call of duty to support the people in greater need in the cyclone-affected areas," said Mr. Bishow Parajuli, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and the Chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee.
The vital role that civil society plays in responding to humanitarian crises was underscored both by the Executive Director of Myanmar Red Cross Society, U Khin Maung Hla and the Chair of the Myanmar NGO Network, Dr. Myo Thant Tyn, who spoke from experiences of the humanitarian efforts after Cyclone Nargis.
"Unless we involve communities and the groups that form within them in identifying needs, implementing programmes, learning and reflecting about what works well and what does not work, programmes are not likely to succeed. Even worse, they have the potential to cause more harm than good," he said.
The occasion was also "an opportunity to reiterate the partnership that had been built through the humanitarian efforts in response to Cyclone Nargis – which included good cooperation between the Government, ASEAN, donors the UN, INGOs, local NGOs and the community," said Mr. Parajuli .
"Let us unite and continue our strong partnership to address these critical needs in the cyclone-affected areas. The affected population is awaiting our action to improve their lives," said Dr. Niken Gandini, who spoke on behalf of the Special Envoy of the ASEAN Secretary-General for post-Nargis Recovery in Myanmar.
Through partnership built on mutual trust, the humanitarian community here in Myanmar has proven its ability to effectively respond and deliver humanitarian assistance in close collaboration and coordination with Government authorities at all levels to the vulnerable people in their time of need.
Such partnership would need to continue to be strengthened, not only in the delta, but also in other parts of the country.
*********************************************************
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy (Weblog)
OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR WEBB
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE
By Ko Myoe
Good news for Senator Webb. The President Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday praised Senator Jim Webb for facilitating the release of American John William Yettaw but at the same time urged Burma’s ruling junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Unsurprisingly, Burma’s state-run media today called, while trashing and bashing the reputation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi hand her party, the recent visit by US senator Jim Webb, who secured the release of John Yettaw, a success and a demonstration of the junta’s goodwill. A commentary published in three of Burma’s main state-run media outlets said that the trip demonstrated the country’s diplomatic friendliness towards the United States. “The Senator’s tour of Myanmar was welcomed and recognized both locally and globally as a successful visit,” said the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
If one wonders why the regime, on one hand, is welcoming and praising Mr. Webb’s visit as successful one while it had just trashed the reputation of the world’s most important figure UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the other, the answer is that Mr. Webb, for some reason, is the "chosen" one to make the US’s sanctions to be lifted. He might or might not be aware that the regime will continue its repressive rule for decades to come if the US’s sanctions get lifted. Anyway, Mr. Webb is entitled to do whatever he wants for sure.
However, the contradiction between Mr. Webb and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the US’s current sanction against the regime had awe-strucked among the international community. He said at a press conference in Bangkok, "With respect to Aung San Suu Kyi, I don't want to take the risk of misrepresenting her views but I would say to you it was my clear impression from her that she is not opposed to lifting some sanctions."
On the radio interview with Democratic Voice of Burma (www.dvb.no) originally aired on August 17, 2009, Nyan Win, the spoke-person and a lawyer of Daw Suu, explained Mr. Webb’s remarks that she had never said that she agreed to his desire to lift the sanction against the regime.
We would like Mr. Webb to stop using Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been calling for the world to stop feeding the beasts that will destroy its own country, in order to get what he wants and stop suggesting Daw Suu and the oppositions to accept whatever he wants them to. Other than that, if you want to be played down by the regime like India and China, we would like to say “good luck to you”. And, we will as well spread this message around the world.
Thank You,
-ANTI-DICTATORSHIP PEOPLES’ FREEDOM MOVEMENT IN BURMA-
adpfmburma.com
Arkar Soe
+1 301 213 0605
Campaign Planning Committee
Anti-Dictatorship, People's Freedom Movement in Burma
Washington DC, USA
Burma Wants Freedom and Democracy (Weblog)
OPEN LETTER TO SENATOR WEBB
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE
By Ko Myoe
Good news for Senator Webb. The President Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday praised Senator Jim Webb for facilitating the release of American John William Yettaw but at the same time urged Burma’s ruling junta to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Unsurprisingly, Burma’s state-run media today called, while trashing and bashing the reputation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi hand her party, the recent visit by US senator Jim Webb, who secured the release of John Yettaw, a success and a demonstration of the junta’s goodwill. A commentary published in three of Burma’s main state-run media outlets said that the trip demonstrated the country’s diplomatic friendliness towards the United States. “The Senator’s tour of Myanmar was welcomed and recognized both locally and globally as a successful visit,” said the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
If one wonders why the regime, on one hand, is welcoming and praising Mr. Webb’s visit as successful one while it had just trashed the reputation of the world’s most important figure UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the other, the answer is that Mr. Webb, for some reason, is the "chosen" one to make the US’s sanctions to be lifted. He might or might not be aware that the regime will continue its repressive rule for decades to come if the US’s sanctions get lifted. Anyway, Mr. Webb is entitled to do whatever he wants for sure.
However, the contradiction between Mr. Webb and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding the US’s current sanction against the regime had awe-strucked among the international community. He said at a press conference in Bangkok, "With respect to Aung San Suu Kyi, I don't want to take the risk of misrepresenting her views but I would say to you it was my clear impression from her that she is not opposed to lifting some sanctions."
On the radio interview with Democratic Voice of Burma (www.dvb.no) originally aired on August 17, 2009, Nyan Win, the spoke-person and a lawyer of Daw Suu, explained Mr. Webb’s remarks that she had never said that she agreed to his desire to lift the sanction against the regime.
We would like Mr. Webb to stop using Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been calling for the world to stop feeding the beasts that will destroy its own country, in order to get what he wants and stop suggesting Daw Suu and the oppositions to accept whatever he wants them to. Other than that, if you want to be played down by the regime like India and China, we would like to say “good luck to you”. And, we will as well spread this message around the world.
Thank You,
-ANTI-DICTATORSHIP PEOPLES’ FREEDOM MOVEMENT IN BURMA-
adpfmburma.com
Arkar Soe
+1 301 213 0605Campaign Planning Committee
Anti-Dictatorship, People's Freedom Movement in Burma
Washington DC, USA
*********************************************************
Banyan
The Economist - The Burmese road to ruin
Aug 13th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Once a model for Myanmar’s generals of successful autocracy, Indonesia now has even more to teach them
IF THERE was ever a role model for Than Shwe, Myanmar’s vicious, nutty, reclusive “senior general”, it was Suharto, Indonesia’s late kleptocrat. Suharto was the senior general who had everything. His fabulous wealth made the greedy Burmese generals look like paupers. His children parcelled out the economy as if it were the family vegetable plot. Feted rather than shunned, he was dubbed “father of development” by his fan club, and even many foreigners agreed: development banks needed him more than he needed them. And he held power for 32 years. No wonder the Burmese junta gazed admiringly at Indonesia.
The two countries do have much in common. Both are fabulously rich in resources—hydrocarbons, minerals, timber. Both reached postcolonial independence by way of Japanese occupation. Both are multiethnic states haunted by the twin spectres of racial tension and a separatist periphery. And both have armies with inflated views of their importance to national survival.
A fine recent book on Indonesia by Marcus Mietzner of the Australian National University* highlights five features of the Indonesian armed forces. Four are also shown by Myanmar’s. First is the army’s (debatable) view of itself as the main bringer of independence. Second is its disdain for periods of civilian rule in the 1950s, dismissed as chaotic, corrupt and, through the spread of regional rebellions, dangerous to the country’s integrity. Out of this disdain grew a third feature, a doctrine known in Indonesia as dwifungsi, or dual function, of running the country as well as defending it, and a fourth, the entrenchment of the armed forces in the infrastructure of the state. Last year Myanmar’s benighted people were forced to endorse a dwifungsi constitution in a referendum. Under it, ludicrously undemocratic elections are to be held in 2010, giving some veneer of legitimacy to the soldiers’ unbudgeable heft in parliament and government.
The fifth point, too, may yet apply to Than Shwe. What Mr Mietzner terms the “increasingly sultanistic character” of the ageing Suharto’s rule opened up a rift with his fellow generals. When the economy collapsed in 1998 and the threat of anarchy loomed, Suharto looked over his shoulder and found nobody was following him. In the end, dictators, however unpopular, despotic and incompetent, rarely fall because they have too many enemies. They fall because they have too few friends left.
Fall, however, Suharto did, in 1998, disqualifying Indonesia’s recent history as a serviceable model for Than Shwe. But what has happened there since Suharto fell should still interest him for two reasons. The first is that there has been almost total impunity both for the grasping dynasty and the torturing soldiers who guarded it. One obstacle to political reform in Myanmar is the generals’ fear of war-crimes trials, truth-and-justice commissions, or perhaps lynch-mobs. Indonesia should offer them hope that political change need not inevitably bring retribution.
But Indonesia is an encouraging example for Myanmar for a better reason, too. Facing multiple long-lived insurgencies, Myanmar’s generals fear for their country’s unity. In the late 1990s, Indonesians also worried about national disintegration and communal strife. Yet except for tiny East Timor, the country remains in one piece. Moreover, under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, just re-elected president, it is politically stable, economically resilient and largely peaceful. All political transitions are bumpy. But Indonesia’s has been surprisingly free of turbulence. And the country is showing signs of some political self-confidence. This week it reverted to the timid, “non-interfering traditions” of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), curtailing a gathering in Jakarta of exiled Burmese opposition leaders. But at ASEAN’s summit in July, it spoke out for more robust regional human-rights standards and against the Burmese junta.
There are two ways, however, in which the Burmese dictatorship differs crucially from Suharto’s. The first is that, whereas Suharto faced only insipid opposition leaders, Than Shwe has a nemesis, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is hugely popular at home and internationally revered. There was something personally vindictive about the Alice in Wonderland trial to which his junta has just subjected her. Not just the proceedings (“sentence first—verdict afterwards”) but the supposed crime itself—in effect, being poorly guarded—were beyond ridicule. His intervention to show “clemency” by cutting her sentence was salt in her wounds. The whole farce speaks of Than Shwe’s determination at all costs to keep her incarcerated during next year’s election. The army will never forget its embarrassment in 1990 when her party trounced the army’s candidates. She was already in detention.
The Pyongyang consensus
Second, Suharto’s claim to paternity over development was not all hot air. Under him Indonesia achieved average annual economic growth of over 6% for three decades. Inequality was stark, but the benefits of growth were felt by most Indonesians. In Myanmar, a tiny, pampered middle class enjoy luxury hotels, golf and shopping malls in Yangon; the generals bask in comfort in the mountain fastness of Naypyidaw, their absurdist capital. But most of Myanmar’s people still toil away as subsistence farmers. Economic collapse is not a risk. There is nothing to collapse.
In this respect, perhaps Than Shwe has, after all, found a new role model. That other vicious, nutty recluse, Kim Jong Il, shows the same almost infinite capacity to let his people suffer to keep him in power and cognac, and has an appealing knack for nukes. However, he exudes neither the durability nor the respectability commanded by Suharto in his pomp—let alone by the popularly elected Mr Yudhoyono, who, Than Shwe’s underlings might like to recall, used to be one of Suharto’s generals.
The Economist - The Burmese road to ruin
Aug 13th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Once a model for Myanmar’s generals of successful autocracy, Indonesia now has even more to teach them
IF THERE was ever a role model for Than Shwe, Myanmar’s vicious, nutty, reclusive “senior general”, it was Suharto, Indonesia’s late kleptocrat. Suharto was the senior general who had everything. His fabulous wealth made the greedy Burmese generals look like paupers. His children parcelled out the economy as if it were the family vegetable plot. Feted rather than shunned, he was dubbed “father of development” by his fan club, and even many foreigners agreed: development banks needed him more than he needed them. And he held power for 32 years. No wonder the Burmese junta gazed admiringly at Indonesia.
The two countries do have much in common. Both are fabulously rich in resources—hydrocarbons, minerals, timber. Both reached postcolonial independence by way of Japanese occupation. Both are multiethnic states haunted by the twin spectres of racial tension and a separatist periphery. And both have armies with inflated views of their importance to national survival.
A fine recent book on Indonesia by Marcus Mietzner of the Australian National University* highlights five features of the Indonesian armed forces. Four are also shown by Myanmar’s. First is the army’s (debatable) view of itself as the main bringer of independence. Second is its disdain for periods of civilian rule in the 1950s, dismissed as chaotic, corrupt and, through the spread of regional rebellions, dangerous to the country’s integrity. Out of this disdain grew a third feature, a doctrine known in Indonesia as dwifungsi, or dual function, of running the country as well as defending it, and a fourth, the entrenchment of the armed forces in the infrastructure of the state. Last year Myanmar’s benighted people were forced to endorse a dwifungsi constitution in a referendum. Under it, ludicrously undemocratic elections are to be held in 2010, giving some veneer of legitimacy to the soldiers’ unbudgeable heft in parliament and government.
The fifth point, too, may yet apply to Than Shwe. What Mr Mietzner terms the “increasingly sultanistic character” of the ageing Suharto’s rule opened up a rift with his fellow generals. When the economy collapsed in 1998 and the threat of anarchy loomed, Suharto looked over his shoulder and found nobody was following him. In the end, dictators, however unpopular, despotic and incompetent, rarely fall because they have too many enemies. They fall because they have too few friends left.
Fall, however, Suharto did, in 1998, disqualifying Indonesia’s recent history as a serviceable model for Than Shwe. But what has happened there since Suharto fell should still interest him for two reasons. The first is that there has been almost total impunity both for the grasping dynasty and the torturing soldiers who guarded it. One obstacle to political reform in Myanmar is the generals’ fear of war-crimes trials, truth-and-justice commissions, or perhaps lynch-mobs. Indonesia should offer them hope that political change need not inevitably bring retribution.
But Indonesia is an encouraging example for Myanmar for a better reason, too. Facing multiple long-lived insurgencies, Myanmar’s generals fear for their country’s unity. In the late 1990s, Indonesians also worried about national disintegration and communal strife. Yet except for tiny East Timor, the country remains in one piece. Moreover, under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, just re-elected president, it is politically stable, economically resilient and largely peaceful. All political transitions are bumpy. But Indonesia’s has been surprisingly free of turbulence. And the country is showing signs of some political self-confidence. This week it reverted to the timid, “non-interfering traditions” of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), curtailing a gathering in Jakarta of exiled Burmese opposition leaders. But at ASEAN’s summit in July, it spoke out for more robust regional human-rights standards and against the Burmese junta.
There are two ways, however, in which the Burmese dictatorship differs crucially from Suharto’s. The first is that, whereas Suharto faced only insipid opposition leaders, Than Shwe has a nemesis, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is hugely popular at home and internationally revered. There was something personally vindictive about the Alice in Wonderland trial to which his junta has just subjected her. Not just the proceedings (“sentence first—verdict afterwards”) but the supposed crime itself—in effect, being poorly guarded—were beyond ridicule. His intervention to show “clemency” by cutting her sentence was salt in her wounds. The whole farce speaks of Than Shwe’s determination at all costs to keep her incarcerated during next year’s election. The army will never forget its embarrassment in 1990 when her party trounced the army’s candidates. She was already in detention.
The Pyongyang consensus
Second, Suharto’s claim to paternity over development was not all hot air. Under him Indonesia achieved average annual economic growth of over 6% for three decades. Inequality was stark, but the benefits of growth were felt by most Indonesians. In Myanmar, a tiny, pampered middle class enjoy luxury hotels, golf and shopping malls in Yangon; the generals bask in comfort in the mountain fastness of Naypyidaw, their absurdist capital. But most of Myanmar’s people still toil away as subsistence farmers. Economic collapse is not a risk. There is nothing to collapse.
In this respect, perhaps Than Shwe has, after all, found a new role model. That other vicious, nutty recluse, Kim Jong Il, shows the same almost infinite capacity to let his people suffer to keep him in power and cognac, and has an appealing knack for nukes. However, he exudes neither the durability nor the respectability commanded by Suharto in his pomp—let alone by the popularly elected Mr Yudhoyono, who, Than Shwe’s underlings might like to recall, used to be one of Suharto’s generals.
*********************************************************
The New Zealand Herald - New attempt to debate travel ban on junta
4:00AM Tuesday Aug 18, 2009
By Andrew Buncombe
When John Yettaw boarded a plane out of in Yangon early yesterday, the American senator who secured his release hailed the moment as a possible first step towards better relations between Myanmar and the West.
But as the man whose exploits gave the junta an excuse to further detain Aung San Suu Kyi headed away from the notorious Insein Prison, a fresh debate began on whether the West should pursue greater engagement with the country.
The haggard-looking 53-year-old, whose night-time swim to Suu Kyi's lakeside house was used as an excuse to extend the democracy leader's detention, headed to Thailand with United States Senator Jim Webb.
Webb, the first congressman to visit Myanmar for a decade, had secured Yettaw's release after meeting Senior General Than Shwe. He was also allowed to spend 45 minutes with Suu Kyi, who was sentenced last week to a further 18 months under house arrest.
After Webb arrived with Yettaw in Thailand, the senator said he had asked the junta to release the Opposition leader before an election scheduled for next year. "I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he said. "With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process. I believe it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
Months ago, President Barack Obama extended a ban on US investment in Myanmar imposed in 1997. Yet there are a few voices who believe that closer engagement, including the lifting of a de facto travel boycott, would achieve more.
Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador who chairs the Myanmar Network, said Webb believed that sanctions had been counter-productive, a view he shared.
"His view is that sanctions have been harmful. He believes the policy has had the opposite outcome than was intended."
Since 2003, when Suu Kyi said it was not the right time for tourists to visit Myanmar, there has been a strong campaign among activists in the West to deter travellers from visiting the country, arguing that such trips provide money to the regime and benefit only a small number of ordinary citizens.
It was reported at the weekend that the Opposition leader had since reversed her view on the travel boycott, though campaigners said there was no evidence to support this.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said America's relationship with Myanmar could only improve once the Nobel laureate and 2000 other political prisoners were released from jail.
4:00AM Tuesday Aug 18, 2009
By Andrew Buncombe
When John Yettaw boarded a plane out of in Yangon early yesterday, the American senator who secured his release hailed the moment as a possible first step towards better relations between Myanmar and the West.
But as the man whose exploits gave the junta an excuse to further detain Aung San Suu Kyi headed away from the notorious Insein Prison, a fresh debate began on whether the West should pursue greater engagement with the country.
The haggard-looking 53-year-old, whose night-time swim to Suu Kyi's lakeside house was used as an excuse to extend the democracy leader's detention, headed to Thailand with United States Senator Jim Webb.
Webb, the first congressman to visit Myanmar for a decade, had secured Yettaw's release after meeting Senior General Than Shwe. He was also allowed to spend 45 minutes with Suu Kyi, who was sentenced last week to a further 18 months under house arrest.
After Webb arrived with Yettaw in Thailand, the senator said he had asked the junta to release the Opposition leader before an election scheduled for next year. "I'm hopeful as the months move forward they will take a look," he said. "With the scrutiny of the outside world judging their government very largely through how they are treating Aung San Suu Kyi, it's to their advantage that she's allowed to participate in the political process. I believe it will be impossible for the rest of the world to believe the elections were free and fair if she was not released."
Months ago, President Barack Obama extended a ban on US investment in Myanmar imposed in 1997. Yet there are a few voices who believe that closer engagement, including the lifting of a de facto travel boycott, would achieve more.
Derek Tonkin, a former British ambassador who chairs the Myanmar Network, said Webb believed that sanctions had been counter-productive, a view he shared.
"His view is that sanctions have been harmful. He believes the policy has had the opposite outcome than was intended."
Since 2003, when Suu Kyi said it was not the right time for tourists to visit Myanmar, there has been a strong campaign among activists in the West to deter travellers from visiting the country, arguing that such trips provide money to the regime and benefit only a small number of ordinary citizens.
It was reported at the weekend that the Opposition leader had since reversed her view on the travel boycott, though campaigners said there was no evidence to support this.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said America's relationship with Myanmar could only improve once the Nobel laureate and 2000 other political prisoners were released from jail.
*********************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Pro-democracy Camp to US Senator: What Success?
By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS WRITER
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
BANGKOK — A rare visit by a United States senator to Burma—billed as ”successful” in some quarters—is winning little applause from sectors critical of the military regime that rules the country.
Western diplomats based in Bangkok, speaking on condition of anonymity, lauded the visit, saying they "welcome this breakthrough."
Critics, however, warned that the two-day visit by Senator Jim Webb, which began on August 14, could be used by the country's strongman, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to bolster his image and win more concessions without conceding any ground to improve human rights and to let a democratic culture flourish in Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar.
Webb, after all, has been a strong proponent of engaging with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the military junta is formally known. He has also called for the lifting of the economic sanctions that Washington has imposed on Burma since the mid-1990s, declaring that it has failed to push the junta down the road towards democratic reform.
Little wonder why the treatment Webb received during his mission was akin to one that the junta offers to heads of states. It included meetings with the reclusive Than Shwe and one with Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who the junta has shut away from public life for over 14 years.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did not get to meet Suu Kyi during his July visit to Burma. Ban had called for the release of Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners during his meeting with Than Shwe. His request to meet with the detained leader was denied.
"There is no surprise at the way Senator Webb was welcomed in Burma by the military regime. Than Shwe wants to open up good relations with the US government, and he knows Webb's views on Burma,” said Bangkok-based Zin Linn, information director for the National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma, the democratically elected government forced into exile.
"The winner was the SPDC and Than Shwe; not Webb," he added in an interview. "Than Shwe exploited this situation the way he has done with other foreign visitors. He knows when to ignore leaders and when to meet them."
The highpoint of Webb's visit—from the US point of view, at least—was the success of securing the release of US citizen John Yettaw on humanitarian grounds. The 53-year-old American was sentenced on August 11 to seven years in prison and hard labour for swimming across a lake in Rangoon and entering the home of Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi was not as fortunate. The same court, located within the compound of the notorious Insein Prison in the former capital, found the 64-year-old opposition leader guilty of violating the conditions of her house arrest by letting the uninvited Yettaw into her lakeside home in early May.
Suu Kyi was condemned to a further 18 months under house arrest, removing all doubt that the trial lived up to its expectations as a "farce," as some Burmese analysts have described it. Yettaw's quest to reach her—because he was writing a book on "faith-based heroism"—set the tone to this Kafkaesque case.
The further isolation of Suu Kyi is the reality that matters to Burmese activists and not the humanitarian gesture the junta offered Webb. They see the suppression of Suu Kyi's freedom, effectively denying her a role in the general elections the junta has pledged to have in 2010, as a confirmation of the junta's mindset.
"The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is most important. We need to judge if Senator Webb's trip was a success or failure based on that," said Bo Kyi, head of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), a group of former political prisoners campaigning for the rights of the country's jailed activists. "Yettaw's release is not that important."
Yettaw's freedom, in fact, is not a surprise, added Bo Kyi during a telephone interview from Mae Sot, a town along the Thai-Burma border. "The military regime had no use of him anymore. They needed him earlier to find a way of keeping Daw Suu under house arrest," he revealed, using the honorific "Daw" as Burmese do when referring to senior women.
A similarly critical tone is echoed by Burma watchers on another message Webb has been pushing since leaving the Southeast Asian nation: to ease the current sanctions regime. Webb, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, is trying to drum up support for a "new approach" to dealing with the regime.
They say it is reminiscent of a view that emerged in the region in 1997, when Burma was admitted as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member regional bloc.
Asean—which includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—described its policy towards the region's pariah as "constructive engagement."
The Burmese regime, the successor to the military dictatorships that have ruled the country since a March 1962 coup, benefited from the protective wall that Asean built around it. It helped deflect criticism at the UN Security Council and Asean chose not to tow the line of the punitive sanctions policies imposed by the US government and the European Union.
"Asean walked into a web of a different kind in 1997 when it opened its doors to Burma. It said, 'don't criticize the regime; don't pressure it,'" said Debbie Stothard of the
Alternative Asean Network on Burma, a regional human rights watchdog. "Asean believed at the time that by engaging with the military regime, it would change."
Yet, the contrary has unfolded in the past decade, with the regime tightening its grip on the country and its list of human rights violations lengthening, Stothard told IPS. "This regime is a bad enemy but an even worse friend," she said.
"This is why democracy activists are shocked at the message Webb is sending out," Stothard added. "They are outraged that Webb's approach would undermine the pressure on the regime and send the wrong message, because the regime is desperate to get legitimacy for the 2010 elections."
By MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR / IPS WRITER
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
BANGKOK — A rare visit by a United States senator to Burma—billed as ”successful” in some quarters—is winning little applause from sectors critical of the military regime that rules the country.
Western diplomats based in Bangkok, speaking on condition of anonymity, lauded the visit, saying they "welcome this breakthrough."
Critics, however, warned that the two-day visit by Senator Jim Webb, which began on August 14, could be used by the country's strongman, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to bolster his image and win more concessions without conceding any ground to improve human rights and to let a democratic culture flourish in Burma, officially the Union of Myanmar.
Webb, after all, has been a strong proponent of engaging with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the military junta is formally known. He has also called for the lifting of the economic sanctions that Washington has imposed on Burma since the mid-1990s, declaring that it has failed to push the junta down the road towards democratic reform.
Little wonder why the treatment Webb received during his mission was akin to one that the junta offers to heads of states. It included meetings with the reclusive Than Shwe and one with Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who the junta has shut away from public life for over 14 years.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon did not get to meet Suu Kyi during his July visit to Burma. Ban had called for the release of Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners during his meeting with Than Shwe. His request to meet with the detained leader was denied.
"There is no surprise at the way Senator Webb was welcomed in Burma by the military regime. Than Shwe wants to open up good relations with the US government, and he knows Webb's views on Burma,” said Bangkok-based Zin Linn, information director for the National Coalition Government for the Union of Burma, the democratically elected government forced into exile.
"The winner was the SPDC and Than Shwe; not Webb," he added in an interview. "Than Shwe exploited this situation the way he has done with other foreign visitors. He knows when to ignore leaders and when to meet them."
The highpoint of Webb's visit—from the US point of view, at least—was the success of securing the release of US citizen John Yettaw on humanitarian grounds. The 53-year-old American was sentenced on August 11 to seven years in prison and hard labour for swimming across a lake in Rangoon and entering the home of Suu Kyi.
The Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi was not as fortunate. The same court, located within the compound of the notorious Insein Prison in the former capital, found the 64-year-old opposition leader guilty of violating the conditions of her house arrest by letting the uninvited Yettaw into her lakeside home in early May.
Suu Kyi was condemned to a further 18 months under house arrest, removing all doubt that the trial lived up to its expectations as a "farce," as some Burmese analysts have described it. Yettaw's quest to reach her—because he was writing a book on "faith-based heroism"—set the tone to this Kafkaesque case.
The further isolation of Suu Kyi is the reality that matters to Burmese activists and not the humanitarian gesture the junta offered Webb. They see the suppression of Suu Kyi's freedom, effectively denying her a role in the general elections the junta has pledged to have in 2010, as a confirmation of the junta's mindset.
"The release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is most important. We need to judge if Senator Webb's trip was a success or failure based on that," said Bo Kyi, head of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma (AAPP), a group of former political prisoners campaigning for the rights of the country's jailed activists. "Yettaw's release is not that important."
Yettaw's freedom, in fact, is not a surprise, added Bo Kyi during a telephone interview from Mae Sot, a town along the Thai-Burma border. "The military regime had no use of him anymore. They needed him earlier to find a way of keeping Daw Suu under house arrest," he revealed, using the honorific "Daw" as Burmese do when referring to senior women.
A similarly critical tone is echoed by Burma watchers on another message Webb has been pushing since leaving the Southeast Asian nation: to ease the current sanctions regime. Webb, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, is trying to drum up support for a "new approach" to dealing with the regime.
They say it is reminiscent of a view that emerged in the region in 1997, when Burma was admitted as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-member regional bloc.
Asean—which includes Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam—described its policy towards the region's pariah as "constructive engagement."
The Burmese regime, the successor to the military dictatorships that have ruled the country since a March 1962 coup, benefited from the protective wall that Asean built around it. It helped deflect criticism at the UN Security Council and Asean chose not to tow the line of the punitive sanctions policies imposed by the US government and the European Union.
"Asean walked into a web of a different kind in 1997 when it opened its doors to Burma. It said, 'don't criticize the regime; don't pressure it,'" said Debbie Stothard of the
Alternative Asean Network on Burma, a regional human rights watchdog. "Asean believed at the time that by engaging with the military regime, it would change."
Yet, the contrary has unfolded in the past decade, with the regime tightening its grip on the country and its list of human rights violations lengthening, Stothard told IPS. "This regime is a bad enemy but an even worse friend," she said.
"This is why democracy activists are shocked at the message Webb is sending out," Stothard added. "They are outraged that Webb's approach would undermine the pressure on the regime and send the wrong message, because the regime is desperate to get legitimacy for the 2010 elections."
*********************************************************
Mizzima News - USDA Secretary to visit Japan
by Nem Davies
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 19:38
New Delhi (Mizzima) - A Burmese delegation led by the Secretary of the pro-junta civil organisation – the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – will leave for Japan on a good will mission on Wednesday evening.
The delegation’s week-long tour follows an invitation by the Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone. The delegation will be led by USDA Secretary U Htay Oo, who is also the Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation. He will be accompanied by Tin Htut Oo, Director General of the Agricultural Department and other officials including those of the Military Affairs Security (MAS).
The delegation will leave on Wednesday evening for Bangkok on a TG flight and will arrive in Tokyo on Thursday morning on a Nippon Airlines flight.
In Japan, the delegation will put up at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo. On Thursday it will visit the Buddha statue located in a popular tourist attraction centre - Kamakura, north of Tokyo.
On August 23 and 24, the delegation is scheduled to meet Japanese opposition Members of Parliament. On August 25 it will meet the Japanese Foreign Minister. The same evening it will meet the Deputy Agriculture Minister.
While the trip is being termed as a friendly visit, it is also expected to be part of the Burmese junta’s lobbying of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), currently the opposition party. The DPJ is expected to win the August 30 elections in Japan.
The pro-junta USDA led delegation, earlier, paid official visits to China and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the USDA is planning to organise a nation-wide conference in October at its newly constructed office in Burma’s jungle capital city of Naypyitaw.
Sources in the USDA leadership said, the ruling military junta is likely to announce the electoral law for the 2010 general elections before the conference in October. The conference is expected to fully endorse the junta’s plan.
The USDA office, located in a remote area of Naypyitaw along the Rangoon highway, is heading for completion.
by Nem Davies
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 19:38
New Delhi (Mizzima) - A Burmese delegation led by the Secretary of the pro-junta civil organisation – the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – will leave for Japan on a good will mission on Wednesday evening.
The delegation’s week-long tour follows an invitation by the Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone. The delegation will be led by USDA Secretary U Htay Oo, who is also the Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation. He will be accompanied by Tin Htut Oo, Director General of the Agricultural Department and other officials including those of the Military Affairs Security (MAS).
The delegation will leave on Wednesday evening for Bangkok on a TG flight and will arrive in Tokyo on Thursday morning on a Nippon Airlines flight.
In Japan, the delegation will put up at the Hotel New Otani in Tokyo. On Thursday it will visit the Buddha statue located in a popular tourist attraction centre - Kamakura, north of Tokyo.
On August 23 and 24, the delegation is scheduled to meet Japanese opposition Members of Parliament. On August 25 it will meet the Japanese Foreign Minister. The same evening it will meet the Deputy Agriculture Minister.
While the trip is being termed as a friendly visit, it is also expected to be part of the Burmese junta’s lobbying of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), currently the opposition party. The DPJ is expected to win the August 30 elections in Japan.
The pro-junta USDA led delegation, earlier, paid official visits to China and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, the USDA is planning to organise a nation-wide conference in October at its newly constructed office in Burma’s jungle capital city of Naypyitaw.
Sources in the USDA leadership said, the ruling military junta is likely to announce the electoral law for the 2010 general elections before the conference in October. The conference is expected to fully endorse the junta’s plan.
The USDA office, located in a remote area of Naypyitaw along the Rangoon highway, is heading for completion.
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Mizzima News - State-run media hails junta as “humanitarian government”
by Mungpi
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 22:05
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma’s military rulers hope that hosting US Senator Jim Webb and releasing John William Yettaw will help promote bilateral relationship between the US and Burma, the State-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar has said.
The editorial of the newspaper, which is also known as the junta’s mouthpiece, on Wednesday termed Senator Webb’s visit as “successful” and expressed the hope that it will lead to a better relationship between the two countries.
“As Mr. Jim Webb’s tour of Myanmar has successfully concluded, we hope that his visit will help promote constructive views on bilateral relations and hold discussions based on mutual understanding between the US and Myanmar in the future,” the editorial said.
Webb, who visited Burma during the weekend, as part of his tour of five Asian countries, was given a reception equivalent to a head-of-state and was allowed a rare meeting with Burma’s military supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In addition, the junta also allowed Webb to take back Yettaw, who on August 11 was found guilty by the Insein prison court and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour for swimming across Inya Lake and sneaking into Aung San Suu Kyi’s home.
The editorial titled, “Constructive attitude in the area of international relations” said the government by releasing Yettaw has shown “respect for the rule of law as well as humanitarianism and human rights.”
Contradicting the editorial’s claim, Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer said they are dissatisfied with the court’s verdict, which sentenced the Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate and her two live-in party house mates to three years in prison with hard labour.
Nyan Win on August 11, on the eve of the court’s verdict told Mizzima, “We are not happy with the verdict and find it legally incoherent. But we appreciate the intervention by the Minister for Home Affairs.”
Following the court’s verdict, Maj Gen Maung Oo, the Burmese Home Minister, intervened by walking into the court and reading out an order by his boss, Than Shwe. The executive order commuted 18 months of Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence and that of her two house mates and allowed them to serve time at her home.
Nyan Win also said Suu Kyi’s defence counsels will appeal to a higher court for a review of the verdict. On Monday, he met her and discussed their plans to appeal to the High Court.
The editorial’s claim of Burma respecting the “rule of law” comes at a time, when the domestic and international community finds it difficult to digest the idea of extending the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.
To many Burma watchers, the junta has successfully manipulated Yettaw’s swimming incident to its advantage and found a pretext to further detain Aung San Suu Kyi, and there are no doubts about the junta’s disregard for the rule of law.
In a rare instance, the junta’s newspaper on Tuesday also carried an article hailing the visit of Jim Webb as “successful” and expressed hopes of improving US-Burma bilateral relations.
The relationship between Washington and Rangoon has never been cosy with Washington imposing economic and political sanctions on the Burmese regime over its appalling human rights records and lack of democracy.
But Webb’s visit to the country over the weekend has led to speculations among observers and analysts over Obama’s new Burma policy.
The US, acknowledging that it’s policy of sanctions has not worked on Burma, has stated that it is currently undertaking a policy review.
But on Tuesday State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly, during a daily press briefing, refused to comment on a question regarding the Burmese junta terming Webb’s visit a success.
“I’m not going to try and read into what’s in the mind of the Burmese officials,” said Kelly, adding that though the US is pleased that Yettaw has been released, the problem of human rights in Burma still remains a concern.
“I would just say that while we are pleased that American citizen John Yettaw has been released, we continue to be very concerned about the problem of human rights in Burma, most particularly the fact that over 2,000 political prisoners remain in detention,” Kelly said.
He added that US will continue to make these concerns known to the Burmese regime.
by Mungpi
Wednesday, 19 August 2009 22:05
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Burma’s military rulers hope that hosting US Senator Jim Webb and releasing John William Yettaw will help promote bilateral relationship between the US and Burma, the State-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar has said.
The editorial of the newspaper, which is also known as the junta’s mouthpiece, on Wednesday termed Senator Webb’s visit as “successful” and expressed the hope that it will lead to a better relationship between the two countries.
“As Mr. Jim Webb’s tour of Myanmar has successfully concluded, we hope that his visit will help promote constructive views on bilateral relations and hold discussions based on mutual understanding between the US and Myanmar in the future,” the editorial said.
Webb, who visited Burma during the weekend, as part of his tour of five Asian countries, was given a reception equivalent to a head-of-state and was allowed a rare meeting with Burma’s military supremo Snr Gen Than Shwe and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In addition, the junta also allowed Webb to take back Yettaw, who on August 11 was found guilty by the Insein prison court and sentenced to seven years in prison with hard labour for swimming across Inya Lake and sneaking into Aung San Suu Kyi’s home.
The editorial titled, “Constructive attitude in the area of international relations” said the government by releasing Yettaw has shown “respect for the rule of law as well as humanitarianism and human rights.”
Contradicting the editorial’s claim, Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyer said they are dissatisfied with the court’s verdict, which sentenced the Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate and her two live-in party house mates to three years in prison with hard labour.
Nyan Win on August 11, on the eve of the court’s verdict told Mizzima, “We are not happy with the verdict and find it legally incoherent. But we appreciate the intervention by the Minister for Home Affairs.”
Following the court’s verdict, Maj Gen Maung Oo, the Burmese Home Minister, intervened by walking into the court and reading out an order by his boss, Than Shwe. The executive order commuted 18 months of Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence and that of her two house mates and allowed them to serve time at her home.
Nyan Win also said Suu Kyi’s defence counsels will appeal to a higher court for a review of the verdict. On Monday, he met her and discussed their plans to appeal to the High Court.
The editorial’s claim of Burma respecting the “rule of law” comes at a time, when the domestic and international community finds it difficult to digest the idea of extending the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.
To many Burma watchers, the junta has successfully manipulated Yettaw’s swimming incident to its advantage and found a pretext to further detain Aung San Suu Kyi, and there are no doubts about the junta’s disregard for the rule of law.
In a rare instance, the junta’s newspaper on Tuesday also carried an article hailing the visit of Jim Webb as “successful” and expressed hopes of improving US-Burma bilateral relations.
The relationship between Washington and Rangoon has never been cosy with Washington imposing economic and political sanctions on the Burmese regime over its appalling human rights records and lack of democracy.
But Webb’s visit to the country over the weekend has led to speculations among observers and analysts over Obama’s new Burma policy.
The US, acknowledging that it’s policy of sanctions has not worked on Burma, has stated that it is currently undertaking a policy review.
But on Tuesday State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly, during a daily press briefing, refused to comment on a question regarding the Burmese junta terming Webb’s visit a success.
“I’m not going to try and read into what’s in the mind of the Burmese officials,” said Kelly, adding that though the US is pleased that Yettaw has been released, the problem of human rights in Burma still remains a concern.
“I would just say that while we are pleased that American citizen John Yettaw has been released, we continue to be very concerned about the problem of human rights in Burma, most particularly the fact that over 2,000 political prisoners remain in detention,” Kelly said.
He added that US will continue to make these concerns known to the Burmese regime.
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Yettaw release ‘will not affect’ US policy to Burma
Aug 19, 2009 (DVB)–The United States has said that the release of US citizen John Yettaw from a Burmese prison last week will not affect its ongoing review of policy towards Burma.
Yettaw, the man whose visit to Aung San Suu Kyi’s compound in May triggered a trial which ended in guilty verdicts for both, was released last week following a visit to Burma by US senator Jim Webb.
Suu Kyi was sentenced to 18 months under house arrest, while Yettaw’s sentence of seven years with hard labour was overturned after talks between Webb and Burma’s reclusive junta leader, Than Shwe.
The US has said however that its review of policy to Burma will continue unaffected by Yettaw’s high-profile release.
“We continue to look for signs that the Burmese government is prepared to embark on a meaningful dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi along with the rest of the democratic opposition,” said Phillip Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.
He said that the Obama administration is looking for signs that Burma is “fundamentally changing its approach and its policies,” adding that “I don’t think that Mr Yettaw’s release is an indication of that.”
The US recently renewed sanctions on the Burmese regime, although there have been several signs that the Obama administration could change tack on its policy.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in February that the US needed to review Burma policy in light of the failure of sanctions, which have proved ineffective given China’s ongoing financial and political support for the regime.
Furthermore, the visit by Webb, the only senior US politician to have travelled to Burma in over a decade, suggests they may be looking to engage more with the regime, following years of isolation.
Obama said he is appreciative of Yettaw’s release, although he urged Burma to release all 2,100 political prisoners.
Webb followed his visit with a statement expressing hope that the gesture offered by the Burmese government can be taken “as a way to begin laying a foundation of good will and confidence-building in the future”.
Reporting by Francis Wade
Aug 19, 2009 (DVB)–The United States has said that the release of US citizen John Yettaw from a Burmese prison last week will not affect its ongoing review of policy towards Burma.
Yettaw, the man whose visit to Aung San Suu Kyi’s compound in May triggered a trial which ended in guilty verdicts for both, was released last week following a visit to Burma by US senator Jim Webb.
Suu Kyi was sentenced to 18 months under house arrest, while Yettaw’s sentence of seven years with hard labour was overturned after talks between Webb and Burma’s reclusive junta leader, Than Shwe.
The US has said however that its review of policy to Burma will continue unaffected by Yettaw’s high-profile release.
“We continue to look for signs that the Burmese government is prepared to embark on a meaningful dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi along with the rest of the democratic opposition,” said Phillip Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs.
He said that the Obama administration is looking for signs that Burma is “fundamentally changing its approach and its policies,” adding that “I don’t think that Mr Yettaw’s release is an indication of that.”
The US recently renewed sanctions on the Burmese regime, although there have been several signs that the Obama administration could change tack on its policy.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in February that the US needed to review Burma policy in light of the failure of sanctions, which have proved ineffective given China’s ongoing financial and political support for the regime.
Furthermore, the visit by Webb, the only senior US politician to have travelled to Burma in over a decade, suggests they may be looking to engage more with the regime, following years of isolation.
Obama said he is appreciative of Yettaw’s release, although he urged Burma to release all 2,100 political prisoners.
Webb followed his visit with a statement expressing hope that the gesture offered by the Burmese government can be taken “as a way to begin laying a foundation of good will and confidence-building in the future”.
Reporting by Francis Wade
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