Friday, 06 January 2012 16:12 Mizzima News
(Mizzima) – British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Friday that Burma’s move towards democracy “so far is not sufficient; there are still political prisoners. It is important that we don’t relax the pressure prematurely and are clear on what we want the government here to do for us to change our policies.”
His remarks came on Thursday in a press conference with Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon, on the last day of his visit to Burma.
“Much more needs to be done and it is vital that the remaining political prisoners be released. It’s not possible to say a country is fair and democratic while people are still in prison on the grounds of their political beliefs,” he said, according to an article in The Telegraph.
If the EU sanctions are to be removed, it is “vital,” the prisoners be released, he said.
He paid tribute to Suu Kyi for her role in bringing Burma closer to democracy.
Suu Kyi again called for the release of prisoners, an end to military action against ethnic minorities and free and fair by-elections on April 1. She said “hard work” was the key to solving Burma’s problems.
She gave a brief glimpse of the prospect of her first election contest in more than 20 years. “I would like to see the NLD win very well in these elections,” she said. She will declare her candidacy soon. The party registration of the National League for Democracy was approved on Thursday. It will contest in all 48 seats up for grabs in the Parliament.
Reuters news agency quoted a diplomat, “She's crucial to driving this process. She has a lot of sway.”
The Nobel peace laureate gave a guarded welcome to the reform process in an interview with BBC television on Thursday.
"I don't think the pace of change is as fast as a lot of us would like it to be but, on the other hand, I don't think it's too slow. It's slow but it's not too slow,” she said.
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