[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Burmese dissident urges Western san



Subject: Burmese dissident urges Western sanctions to oust Military

Brussels, July 18 (Reuters) -- In a videotape smuggled out of Myanmar and made 
public today, the campaigner for democracy and winner of the Nobel prize, Daw 
Aung San Suu Kyi, issued a call for international sanctions to be imposed on 
her country to force political change on the military rulers.

"What we want are the kind of sanctions that will make it quite clear that 
economic change in Burma is not possible without political change," Ms. Aung 
San Suu Kyi said in the videotape, which was shown by members of the European 
Parliament.

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi dismissed fears that sanctions would hurt ordinary 
Burmese.  "I think that the only people whom sanctions will affect are the 
privileged ones," she said.  Her appeal coincides without mounting pressure in 
the West for action against the rulers of Myanmar, who cracked down on the 
democracy movement in May.

In Strasbourg, France, members of the European Parliament passed a non-binding 
resolution today urging the European Union to end all trade, tourism and 
investment ties with Myanmar.
So far the European Union has resisted sanctions, with many countries arguing 
that without similar moves from China and other Asian nations, sanctions would 
be meaningless.

But Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi differentiated between Asian investment and potential 
investment by the European Union and the United States.  Asians, she said, 
invested mainly in hotels, department stores and tourist-related businesses.  
"These, of course, are only related to the very privileged groups," she said, 
while Western investment would be in the basic projects that Myanmar needs if 
it is to grow economically.  

She said sanctions would help the democracy movement by discouraging 
investors.  "Good business anywhere is very much dependent on confidence," she 
said.  "We think this is the time or concerted international efforts with 
regard to the democratic process in Burma."  The videotape, which European 
Parliament officials said was filmed within the last two weeks, also showed Ms. 
Aung San Suu Kyi addressing supporters.

Pressure has been growing on governments and companies to shun Myanmar.  The 
Carlsberg and Heineken breweries both announced earlier this month they were 
ending business dealings there after pro-democracy groups called for a boycott 
of the companies' products.

Within the European Union, Denmark has been the driving force for sanctions, 
after the June 22 death in prison of James Leander Nichols, its honorary consul 
in Yangon, the capital.  Mr. Nichols, who also represented Finland, Norway and 
Switzerland, was Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi's godfather.  She did not mention the 
incident in the video.

The United States has also expressed concern.  Secretary of State Warren 
Christopher plans to consult his counterparts from the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations on the issue when he meets them this weekend in Jakarta, 
Indonesia.

But the secretary general of Asean, Ajit Singh, said today that Myanmar would 
not be an issue.  
"The West and the media are going on a witch hunt," he said, because Myanmar 
"is not an issue at all as far as Asean is concerned."

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi also announced through a spokesman today that she would 
attend a government-run ceremony on Friday to mark the anniversary of her 
father's assassination.  
The ceremony marks the date, July 19, 1947, when her father, Gen. Aung San, and 
eight other leaders of the pro-independence movement were killed as they 
prepared for the end of British rule.

If Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi had shunned the ceremony, it might have been seen as an 
affront to the military at a time when relations between the opposition and the 
Government are already strained.  //END//