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Please repost to Burma net
- Subject: Please repost to Burma net
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 21:34:00
Sanctions on Myanmar won't work, says senior EU[Straits Times 9th Aug]
official
Aug 8, 1996
BANGKOK -- The imposition of sanctions by the European Union would be
ineffective as a means of bringing pressure to bear on Myanmar's
military government,
a senior EU official has said.
EU Humanitarian Commissioner Emma Bonino, speaking to journalists on
Tuesday
after a three-country swing through Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand,
said that any
threat of sanctions against Yangon by the European Union would be
toothless because
of Europe's low level of investment in the country.
"I don't think that for the moment it's a credible way. Our investments
are very low
compared to Asian investment ... economically speaking, it's not a
major impact," she
said.
She added that there was also dissent on the question of sanctions
within the EU.
Calls for sanctions against Myanmar arose in Europe following the June
22 death in
detention of Mr Leo Nichols, an honorary consul for several European
nations,
including EU-member Denmark.
Mr Nichols, a close friend of Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, died
while serving a prison term for unauthorised use of telephones and fax
machines.
The Yangon government said he died of natural causes but some European
officals said
he was mistreated before his death.
European requests for an independent autopsy have been refused by the
Myanmar
government and Norway has accused the authorities of torturing Nichols
through sleep
deprivation.
Ms Bonino, who heads the EC Humanitarian Office (Echo), said that any
action taken
by the European Union should follow the findings of an EU commission
investigating
forced labour and other social issues in Myanmar.
The investigation is expected to finish late next month.
If it finds that forced labour is practised there, EU member countries
will have to
decide whether to withdraw trade benefits under the Generalised Scheme of
Preference which would cost Myanmar US$30 million (S$42 million) a
year, she said.
"I do think that there is a great possibility that the European Union
will unanimously
come out with this decision and that could be the start of a political
world-wide
movement," she said, citing efforts by the United States to impose economic
restrictions on Myanmar.
"World-wide there is concern about what's going on in the country. What
is not yet
decided is what to do," she added.
The US Senate last month decided against imposing strict sanctions
against Myanmar,
but said that the position would be reversed in the event of any
repression by the
Yangon government against the political opposition.
Ms Bonino said she had met Ms Suu Kyi during her visit to Myanmar but
her requests
to meet officials from the government had been refused. Activist's
death inhumane: US
In WASHINGTON, the US on Tuesday criticised the Myanmar government over the
death in jail of pro-democracy activist Hla Than, saying that it was
inhumane to not
allow him to die at home.
'The United States deeply regrets and is saddened by the death on Aug 2
of Hla Than,"
State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said.
"He was held, we believe, unjustly and he died in detention," he said.
The State Department reiterated its call for the release of all
political prisoners in the
country. -- Reuter, AFP.