[Ip-health] [SYCB] U.K. must increase pressure on Myanmar: British legislator

[Zin Linn]

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<http://aa.rd.yahoo.com/partners/kyodo/SIG=10s0j0j06/*http%3A//home.kyodo.co.jp/>
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Friday June 9, 1:07 AM


U.K. must increase pressure on Myanmar: British legislator

(Kyodo) _ Britain must encourage the European Union and Britain to
take a much tougher approach against the military junta in Myanmar,
according to the chairman of a parliamentary committee on the subject.

John Bercow, chair of the all-party parliamentary group for democracy
in Burma, says the current EU sanctions -- which include travel bans
and prohibitions on investments in certain limited sectors -- are far
too weak.

He blames Britain's Foreign Office for failing to take a robust
stance and now claims the international community is presiding over a
"slow burning genocide."

Bercow says the government claims consensus is difficult to reach in
the EU, with France having considerable commercial interests in Myanmar.

However, he says, "Britain needs to be much more robust in pressing
for decisive action. If that means naming and shaming countries which
are not prepared to sign up to such robust initiatives, so be it.

"Britain should be prepared to say to the French 'you really ought to
recognize that there are terrible abuses of human rights in Burma:
rape as a weapon of war, compulsory relocation...the use of child
soldiers and human minesweepers, water torture ... widespread
imprisonment of political opponents'."

He believes sanctions on Myanmar's oil, gas, gems and timber
industries would have a real effect.

Bercow welcomed a plan by the United States to pursue a draft
resolution in the U.N. Security Council on Myanmar.

"Britain should also push for the resolution. We have been calling
for a resolution which calls on Burma to stop the way it's behaving
and respect its citizens. If a country wants to oppose it, let them
be named and shamed," he said.

He believes that China -- which has been supportive toward Myanmar --
would probably sign up to the resolution because it does not want to
damage its international reputation for a relatively small economic interest.

Britain and the United States believe that Myanmar is a threat to
international peace and security and are in favor of tougher action
at the UN. However, according to diplomatic sources, several
countries on the security council including Russia, Japan and China
do not agree and are reluctant to take further measures.

Bercow's comments follow the recent visit to Myanmar by the U.N.
Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari.

During his visit he had talks with the country's pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi who is currently under house arrest.

The National League for Democracy, which Suu Kyi leads, won the 1990
general election by a landslide but was blocked by the junta from
taking power.

Suu Kyi's current detainment began in May 2003. The Nobel Prize
laureate has spent 10 of the last 17 years since her return to
Myanmar under house arrest.

Burma is the former name of Myanmar and is commonly used in Britain
and by the British government because it is the form preferred by the NLD.
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