Burma's Junta Shows Signs of Opening Up
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BANGKOK, May 22 (IPS) - Going by the highly restrictive way Burma's military regime does business, it was a victory for international diplomacy. On the weekend, it looked as if the junta was taking a step back by permitting a senior United Nations official to meet incarcerated, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The one-hour meeting that U.N. under secretary-general for political affairs Ibrahim Gambari had with Suu Kyi, at a state guest house, came after the junta had disallowed similar meetings by other U.N. envoys over the past two years -- even denying them visas to enter the South-east Asian nation. Gambari's success --where other high-ranking envoys have failed-- in meeting Suu Kyi who has spent more than 10 of the last 17 years under house arrest, highlights the importance the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially known, has accorded this particular visit. Consequently, the breakthrough three-day visit to Burma which ended Saturday, is being viewed by some Burma watchers as a sign that the military regime is feeling the heat at the U.N. over its oppressive record. ''The campaign to get Burma discussed at the U.N. Security Council is working,'' Debbie Stothard of the Alternate ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN), a regional rights lobby, told IPS. ''Gambari was allowed to meet the main people in the opposition that he wanted to.'' The global body's concern about Burma's failure to restore democracy and its notorious human rights record has, over the recent months, taken a more aggressive tone. Late December, Gambari presented a scathing report to the Security Council that listed the many horrors the Burmese people are enduring due to a brutal dictatorship. They included the torching of villages, systematic attacks on civilians, forced labour and an emerging humanitarian crisis. And in two other resolutions at the U.N.'s most powerful body --on child soldiers and the abuse of civilians in conflicts-- the Burmese regime has been named among the violators. Besides the U.N., the U.S. government and the European Union have also increased pressure on the Burmese government to ease its iron grip on power, free political prisoners, stop attacks on ethnic minority communities or face the repercussions, such as sanctions. On Thursday, U.S. President George W. Bush renewed Washington's sanctions on Burma, which includes a ban on Burmese exports making their way to the U.S. markets. Fortunately, Gambari will not have long to wait to assess how serious the ruling generals were when the subject of Suu Kyi's fate was being discussed. After all, freedom for the 60-year-old leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory at the 1990 general election that the junta refuses to recognise, is pivotal if there is to be any meaningful political reform in the country. For Suu Kyi's current term of house arrest ends later this month, on May 27. ''That would be a date to watch, to see if the military regime extends her arrest for another period. Its actions would be very revealing,'' says Stothard. And Burma's strongman, senior Gen. Than Shwe, who Gambari met during this visit, holds the power over Suu Kyi's freedom. ''He is believed to have green-lighted the deadly mob attack on Suu Kyi and her convoy in Depayin in (May) 2003 (after which she was arrested), and he alone can decide to free her or extend her detention after the latest term expires,'' writes Aung Zaw, editor of 'The Irrawaddy,' a current affairs journal published by Burmese in exile, in a commentary on Saturday. Freedom for Suu Kyi as a benchmark of the junta's sincerity towards political reform will also be hard to avoid given the brief Gambari had ahead of his visit to Myanmar, the name by which the junta calls Burma. ''During his visit, Under-Secretary-General Gambari will convey a clear message that Myanmar's prospects for improved relations with the international community will depend on tangible progress in restoring democratic freedoms and full respect for human rights,'' said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Suu Kyi has had all contacts with the world beyond the walls of her house in Rangoon cut. She has two housemaids for company, her doctor's visits have been restricted and she is barred from contacting members of her family or her political party. She has not been allowed to meet any foreigners since March 2004 when she was allowed a visit by Malaysia's Razali Ismail, the U.N. special envoy for Burma who has since resigned form the job. In March, Malaysian foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, abruptly cut short a trip to Rangoon as envoy of the ASEAN regional grouping, of which Burma is a member, after he was denied a meeting with Suu Kyi. Burma has been ruled by successive military regimes since a 1962 coup. The current military rulers came into power after crushing a popular uprising led by students in 1988, which resulted in hundreds of civilians being gunned down. The SPDC has also tried to isolate Suu Kyi and her party as they push ahead with a flawed political reform package that aims to cement the military's hold on power rather than advance democracy. ''The SPDC has never been sincere because they want to hold on to power,'' says Zin Linn, a spokesman for the Burmese government formed after the 1990 parliamentary elections, but forced into exile. ''What happened during Gambari's visit could be another delaying tactic of the military regime, something they have done before,'' he told IPS. ''We think they are doing this again because the SPDC has been cornered at the U.N. and they want to avoid getting on the Security Council's agenda.'' |
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