Senators Call to Cease Fund to Burma

Senators Call to Cease Fund to Burma

Oct 5 (US Campaign for Burma) - U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), along with Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), last week called on the Global Fund to cease additional funding for Burma and other state sponsors of terrorism.

In a letter to the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Brownback and the senators asked for assurances that none of the $2.4 million initial disbursement for Burma by the Global Fund will be provided to the State Peace and Development Council, an illegitimate military junta ruling Burma.

"While we take no issue with appropriate measures to assist the Burmese people, we are appalled that the Global Fund and the United Nations Development Program seemingly fail to recognize that the SPDC is solely responsible for creating the myriad humanitarian crises faced by Burma today-whether an exploding HIV/AIDS rate, a ruined economy, a high rate of poverty, or a political environment marked by torture, rape, intimidation and imprisonment," the senators wrote. "This stands in stark contrast to the recent comments of United Nations World Food Programme Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu that the SPDC is responsible for failing to meet the basic needs of the Burmese people.

"We strongly encourage the Global Fund to withhold the disbursement of additional funds to Burma, and we request an explanation of the substantial amount-$2.4 million-processed in the initial disbursement.

This is more than one-third of the total amount of the grant, and seems particularly reckless given the difficulties of conducting programs in a repressive environment created and perpetuated by the SPDC."

The senators also cautioned the UNDP to be aware of the realities of
the "odious nature" of the junta, which has been well documented by the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. State Department, and countless other official and nongovernmental organizations.

In the letter, Brownback, Gregg and McConnell stated that the Global Fund's operations in Burma raise similar concerns in countries with illegitimate and hard-line regimes, including those designated by the U.S. State Department as sponsors of terrorism. Global Fund has approved funding for Cuba, Sudan, Iran and North Korea. The senators requested a detailed status update on grant proceedings involving programs in Burma, Iran, North Korea, the Sudan and Cuba from the Global Fund.

Brownback is chairman of the East Asia Subcommittee of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee. [For Full Text]

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