Suu Kyi's US backers plead to keep sanctions

On Saturday US Congress supporters of Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi pleaded to keep sanctions on the military regime. The Obama administration is reviewing a strategy of Myanmar, whose ruling junta has kept Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 19 years.

The lawmakers, led by longtime Aung San Suu Kyi champion Joseph Crowley, said that Myanmar's leader Than Shwe had shown no desire to engage with the world's only detained Nobel laureate.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received a letter from 17 members of Congress who were concerned that the United States was considering lifting sanctions on Myanmar. The letter noted that last year Congress approved a law subjecting the Myanmar junta to sanctions until it releases all political prisoners and starts dialogue on bringing in democracy. However Jim Webb, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Asia, said the United States needed a more "constructive" policy on Myanmar.

Last week State Department official Stephen Blake visited Myanmar, and quietly held talks with the junta and the opposition. This was the first time a senior US envoy visited Myanmar in more than seven years.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg said Wednesday the United States was seeking a common approach with Asia on Myanmar and said the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program could serve as a model. Senator Webb said the United States should take a lesson from how it opened relations with China and Vietnam despite human rights and other concerns in the two communist states.

This news article again highlights the many problems of Burma’s ruling junta. It also mentions the highly publicized house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. The US government clearly needs to come up with a plan to deal with Burma’s junta. The plan needs to get everyone on the same page and take into account the many opinions discussed briefly in this article. It seems that many people in Washington have ideas about how to make Burma a better place for its citizens and this is important because it shows the problem is the on radar and that we plan to do something about it. Hopefully this new administration can find an approach that works for Burma and its many citizens to help bring democracy to the country.

By Sara Lucid
Burma Group