Dissident calls for EU to beef up Burma sanctions
March
15 (Reuters) - A Burmese opposition leader urged the European Union on Monday
to beef up sanctions against the country unless its military rulers release
Aung San Suu Kyi and move towards restoring democracy.
"We are advocating what we call targeted sanctions, sanctions that will
affect the military most and the people least," Sein Win, a cousin of Nobel
Peace Prize laureate and pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.
Sein Win, an exiled member of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), said he was urging the 15-member EU to consider an import ban on "strategic" goods -- including timber and gem stones -- to put pressure on Burma's military.
The EU currently has limited sanctions in place against Burma, including an arms embargo and visa ban. The European Parliament earlier this month passed a resolution calling for tougher measures against Burma, including import restrictions.
Reflecting U.S. displeasure at continued military rule in Burma, President George W. Bush on July 28 signed into law the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act barring imports from the country.
Sein Win was forced to flee Burma after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won Burma's 1990 election by a landslide. The military never allowed the party to govern and has so far not bowed to pressure for Suu Kyi's release.
CALL
FOR TALKS
Sein Win
said he was urging the EU to beef up sanctions unless Burma's government released
Suu Kyi and other members of her NLD party, reopened NLD offices and started
up three-way talks with pro-democracy parties and ethnic leaders by June.
The NCGUB set up by elected members of parliament mainly from the pro-democracy NLD, is based in Washington. It refers to Win as prime minister in exile. The group says Burma's exports to the EU are worth some $400 million a year.
Sein Win has visited the Netherlands, Britain and Ireland in a bid to persuade EU member states to embrace possible sanctions against Burma. Ireland holds the rotating presidency of the EU, which the Netherlands takes over in July.
Burma has been ruled for more than four decades by the military, which is keeping Suu Kyi under house arrest at her lakeside Rangoon home.
There were hints the standoff between the military and Suu Kyi's opposition NLD may be ending when a U.N. envoy who met both sides earlier his month said Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was committed to taking Burma to democracy and Suu Kyi was ready to work with him.
U.N. envoy Razali Ismail also said Suu Kyi and other NLD officials might be freed by April 16, Burma's new year. The government has also pledged to restart a constitutional convention abandoned in 1996, but has set no date.
Sein Win said the convention would only be meaningful if it did not try to legitimise military rule and called on Burma's government to declare it was ready to release Suu Kyi.
"What we would like to hear is directly from the government of Rangoon. It could be that they release Aung San Suu Kyi before June. It could be. We want a commitment. We don't want to wait. She should be released," he said.