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Denmark proposes Burma sanctions pa



Subject: Denmark proposes Burma sanctions package to EU

Denmark proposes Burma sanctions package to EU
    By Steve Weizman
    COPENHAGEN, July 1 (Reuter) - Danish Foreign Minister Niels
Helveg Petersen said on Monday that Burmese authorities had not
given sufficient answers on the prison death of an honorary
consul and Denmark would propose a range of sanctions to the EU.
    Denmark, Finland, Norway and Switzerland had asked Burma's
military government for a full written report on the death 10
days ago of their Rangoon representative James Leander (Leo)
Nichols, but had so far received only an oral briefing on his
health and diet while in jail, Petersen said.
    "We are totally dissatisfied with the report we have
received. It was far from exhaustive, verbal rather than written
and did not answer our question on the possibility of performing
an autopsy," he told journalists at his weekly briefing.
    Petersen has pledged to lobby fellow European ministers and
the United States next week for a trade boycott on Burma. At
Monday's briefing he said that Denmark would present a range of
punitive options to the EU on Tuesday.
    "We will propose an arsenal of options," he said. "Among
them are the possibility of sanctions, further reduction of aid
to Burma from international organisations, and an investigation
by the United Nations Commission for Human Rights."
    He added that he would ask the EU to try and get the
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to criticise the
Burmese military clampdown on pro-democracy campaigners when it
meets at the end of the month and to ask Japan to use its
influence with Rangoon.
    "Only on Tuesday will we get a picture of the political
geography in the EU, but I hope for broad backing," he said.
    Nichols, godfather and long-time friend of democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, was arrested by the military government in
April and sentenced to three years in prison for operating
telephones and fax machines at his home without permission.
    Diplomats and opposition sources believe Nichols was jailed
because of his close relationship with Suu Kyi and her National
League for Democracy (NLD) party.
    Diplomats said that when Nichols, a 65-year-old diabetic
with a heart ailment, was arrested they were concerned about his
ability to survive harsh prison life.
    Differing accounts said Nichols died of a heart attack or a
stroke, and human rights organisations have said his condition
may have been fatally aggravated by sleep deprivation during
long prison interrogation sessions.
    Petersen said that one of his proposals to the EU would be
for a regular diplomatic watch over Nobel peace laureate Suu
Kyi, feared by some to be in danger of re-arrest. She was
released from six years of house arrest last July.
    Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC) took power in 1988 and suppressed a nationwide democracy
movement.
    Detained since July 1989, Suu Kyi and her colleagues
nevertheless managed to lead the NLD to an overwhelming victory
in May 1990 elections. SLORC refused to turn over power.
    The United States and other nations have protested against a
renewed crackdown on the pro-democracy movement that saw the
detention in May of more than 250 members of the National League
for Democracy ahead of a controversial party congress.
 REUTER
1751 010796 GMT