Burma UN Resolution Will Win International Support: U.S.

June 2 (Bloomberg) - A proposed U.S. resolution in the United Nations Security Council criticizing Burma's detention of political prisoners will win international support, the State Department said in Washington.

The U.S. government said two days ago it will pursue a UN resolution that reflects international concern over the policies of the military rulers of the country formerly known as Burma, including the junta's decision last week to extend the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"There is broad and general support for the idea that the Burmese regime does need to address the serious political problems in that country,'' Tom Casey, acting State Department spokesman, said yesterday, according to a transcript.

Burma, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, has been under international sanctions since the junta rejected the results of elections in 1990 won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. Russia and China, which have veto powers as permanent members of the Security Council, may not support the U.S. resolution, Agence France-Presse reported.

The activities of Burmese government pose a threat to the "stability, peace and security of the region,'' the State Department said May 31. Russia, China and Japan disagreed with that view at a briefing two days ago at the UN, AFP reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

Casey said support for the U.S. resolution will come from the international community and he wasn't trying to predict how individual Security Council members will respond. "I haven't done a survey of Security Council members,'' he said at a briefing in Washington.

UN Report

The Security Council in November requested a report from Secretary General Kofi Annan on Suu Kyi and other human rights issues in Myanmar to signal to the junta that it must make progress on democratic changes. It didn't pass any resolution.

The U.S. and UN led international criticism when Myanmar extended Suu Kyi's detention May 27 for another year. Suu Kyi, 60, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been held at her home in Yangon since May 2003 and has spent 10 of the past 17 years in detention.

Ibrahim Gambari, the first UN envoy to visit Myanmar in two years, said after his trip late last month that there were signals the junta was ready to "turn a new page'' in its international relations.

Gambari, the UN undersecretary general for political affairs, was granted a brief meeting with Suu Kyi during his visit. Myanmar considers Suu Kyi's detention to be a domestic and not an international issue, AFP cited Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win as saying while visiting Malaysia May 29.

The military announced in 2003 it was implementing a plan to introduce democratic changes. A national convention began meeting in May 2004 to draw up a new constitution.

The UN and the U.S. have said the convention lacks legitimacy because several political and ethnic groups are excluded. The NLD is boycotting the convention because its leaders remain in detention.