Washington renews Burma sanctions

Saturday, 24 July 2010 01:13 Mizzima News

(Mizzima) – U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration on Thursday renewed sanctions against military-ruled Burma for an additional year, the move premised on concerns over the regime’s continued record on human rights and democratization as well as alleged ties to North Korea and nuclear proliferation.

The Senate voted 99 to 1 to support the sanctions.

Senate Committee Finance Chairman Max Baucus said in a statement, “As long as the Burmese junta continues to oppress its people and violate human rights, the United States should continue to join our trading partners in standing up for the Burmese people.”
The Burmese Freedom and Democratic Act of 2003 imposes a ban on importing to and exporting from Burma unless it is certified that the country has taken steps to reform and help in combating international drug smuggling.

“The sanctions we renewed today will continue to pressure the Burmese junta to end human rights abuses and finally allow the Burmese people to choose their leaders in a fair election,” Max Baucus announced.

Obama’s administration has voiced concerns over Burma’s election, the first in two decades, desiring the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent the better part of 20 years under house arrest.

The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, has opted to boycott the upcoming polls.

Mitch McConnell, the top Republican on the committee and a co-sponsor of the bill, said, “The United States must deny the Burmese regime the legitimacy it so craves and await the day when its own people will be permitted to govern their own affairs.”

The U.S. Campaign for Burma welcomed the news as a clear message that Congress will not support the 2010 election unless the regime takes steps to negotiate with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and release political prisoners.

“It’s a clear message that the United State Congress will not support the regime’s election and will not recognize any outcome of the 2010 election,” assessed U.S. Campaign for Burma policy director Aung Din.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, presently on an Asian tour, raised concerns about Burma’s military cooperation with North Korea, after a Burmese defector recently disclosed his secret work in a clandestine nuclear weapons program.

“We are concerned about the report that the regime is seeking assistance from North Korea with regards to a nuclear program and we also know that a ship from North Korea has recently delivered military equipment to Burma,” Clinton said in a press conference on Thursday in Vietnam.

Burma’s ruling junta denies allegations of its alleged involvement in obtaining nuclear weaponry.

Diplomatic relations with North Korea had been previously severed after a North Korean agent attempted to assassinate South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during his visit to Burma in 1983. Relations were only again normalized in April of 2007.

Burma is a signatory country to both the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and ASEAN’s Nuclear Weapons Free Zone agreement.