Group of Friends reiterates standard theoretical appeal

Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Group of Friends on Myanmar once again failed to identify any shared concrete measures to be implemented over the continuing political stand-off in Burma, as they convened late on Monday in New York.

In America’s largest city for the 65th meeting of the UN General Assembly, the leaders from the group’s 14 member countries departed the meeting echoing the same language that had been a feature of the divergent grouping since its inauguration in December 2007. The group comprises Australia, Britain, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

“Members called for steps to be taken for the release of political detainees including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” Ban told reporters in New York following the hour-long hour closed-door discussion. “This is essential for the election to be seen as credible and to contribute to Myanmar’s [Burma’s] stability and development.”

Appealing for an inclusive electoral process characterised by transparency, Ban cautioned: “Failure to meet these expectations could undermine the credibility of the process, which, in turn, could reflect on Asean’s collective values and principles.”

The Secretary General’s comments reiterated the message from the Group of Friends.
However, the significance of the gathering was as apparent in what was reportedly excluded as what was included in discussions.

With momentum for a UN commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma steadily growing over recent weeks, the subject remained contentious among the group, representative of divisions of policy on the commission among the governments represented.

Supported by members such as Australia, Britain, France and the US, the commission has failed to draw any backing from among Asean countries, Russia, India or China.

While Ban declined to comment on the matter of such an inquiry in his post-meeting debriefing on Monday, scepticism of any potential advances on the issue were already evident in recent public statements from US officials.

Both US State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley and assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs Dr. Kurt Campbell had in preceding days given notice that Washington was willing to play a “wait-and-see” game regarding any possible discussion of a commission into extensively reported human rights abuses.

Also emblematic of Ban’s stated growing frustration on the issue of Burma, nine months after the Secretary General removed his then special envoy to Burma, Dr. Ibrahim Gambari, an apt replacement was still yet to be identified.

Burma was not represented at Monday’s meeting, the third such gathering of the grouping at the foreign ministerial level.