Bill introduced in US Senate, seeking UN action on Burma

Bill introduced in US Senate, seeking UN action on Burma

Sep 21 (AFP) - A resolution seeking UN Security Council action against Burma was introduced in the US Senate, accusing the Southeast Asian state's military rulers of brutally repressing ethnic minorities and using rape as a weapon of war.

Senator Mitch McConnell, who introduced the bill, said the Security Council should "immediately consider and take appropriate actions to respond to the growing threats" posed by the military junta to the Southeast Asian region.

The junta has come under constant criticism from the United States and other Western powers for human right abuses, including the detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and clampdown of her National League for Democracy (NLD).

"Today, there is no question that Burma's myriad problems are no longer the internal affair of a handful of psychopathic generals in Rangoon," McConnell told the Senate. Burma is the previous name of Myanmar.

McConnell alleged that unchecked spread of HIV/AIDS fuelled by the junta's use of rape as a weapon of war, illicit production and trafficking in narcotics, brutal crackdowns on ethnic minorities and weapons purchases from nuclear-armed North Korea were all posing a serious threat to the region.

He pointed to alleged junta links to drug and human smuggling rackets and said they were threatening the "lives of Asian youth and families" and creating "significant populations of internally displaced persons and refugees.

"If the Security Council takes up the matter of Burma, significant strides will be made toward democracy and justice in that country," he said.

Six other senators are backing the resolution, which is likely to be debated and voted on at a future date.

Last May, the NLD sought Security Council intervention in Myanmar, which has been run by the military since a 1962 coup.

The NLD won overwhelmingly in Myanmar's 1990 elections, considered free and fair by the international community, but was not allowed to govern.

McConnell urged UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well as the United States and Britain -- permanent members of the Security Council -- to heed the NLD's call.

Myanmar launched a national political convention earlier this year which it billed as the first step in its "road map" to democracy but the process has been rejected as a sham by the international community, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

[Main][News Archieve][International Actions]