EU suspension of sanctions angers Myanmar exiles; US urged to go slow on lifting restrictions
WASHINGTON — The European Union’s suspension of economic sanctions against Myanmar has riled exiled activists, who are urging the United States to press for further reforms by the dominant military before following suit.
The activists’ opposition has exposed differences with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose cause they have championed for more than two decades, which helped drive the sanctions in the first place.
uu Kyi endorsed the EU move during a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Yangon this month, but the activists are skeptical that sanctions could be re-imposed if Myanmar, also known as Burma, should backslide on the reforms. They say despite Suu Kyi winning a seat in parliament and the government reaching cease-fires with several ethnic armed insurgencies, the changes have yet to affect the lives of most citizens and rampant rights abuses continue.
“The EU has suspended sanctions knowing that its own benchmarks on Burma have not been met: the unconditional release of all political prisoners and a cessation of attacks against ethnic minorities,” Soe Aung of the Forum for Democracy in Burma said by e-mail from Thailand. He accused the bloc of rushing to reward “murky reforms.”
“It’s illogical and a little hypocritical,” Aung said.
While the influence of Myanmar activists who escaped the country in the years following a 1988 crackdown on democracy protesters is waning as the country opens up, they remain players in the debate. Last week, a group of them were lobbying opinion-makers in Washington, including at the State Department and the World Bank.
They say foreign investment before rule of law is established in the impoverished country would do more harm than good and benefit only the military and its cronies, who dominate the most lucrative sectors of the economy, such as timber, gemstones, oil and gas. Most of those resources are in, and need to be transported through, remote, ethnic-minority regions where hundreds of thousands of villagers have been displaced by fighting and where military abuses have been worst.
The Obama administration has taken those concerns on board. While the U.S. has led the charge in engaging Myanmar, it is moving more slowly than the EU in lifting sanctions. It is upgrading diplomatic ties and plans to allow U.S. investment in some sectors, but only in areas it judges would benefit the broader population.
Congressional committees that oversee U.S. policy toward Asia will take up the issue this week, hearing testimony by senior officials from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department.
Khin Ohmar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, a coalition of pro-democracy activists based in several Asian countries, said despite relaxation of restrictions on media and peaceful protests in Myanmar, the military still can act with impunity.
“People talk about President Thein Sein being reform-minded. That may be true. There’s always been reform-minded people, even under the repressive system. But what we need in Burma is institutional changes, not changes based on personalities,” she said in Washington.
The activists’ opposition has exposed differences with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose cause they have championed for more than two decades, which helped drive the sanctions in the first place.
uu Kyi endorsed the EU move during a visit by British Prime Minister David Cameron to Yangon this month, but the activists are skeptical that sanctions could be re-imposed if Myanmar, also known as Burma, should backslide on the reforms. They say despite Suu Kyi winning a seat in parliament and the government reaching cease-fires with several ethnic armed insurgencies, the changes have yet to affect the lives of most citizens and rampant rights abuses continue.
“The EU has suspended sanctions knowing that its own benchmarks on Burma have not been met: the unconditional release of all political prisoners and a cessation of attacks against ethnic minorities,” Soe Aung of the Forum for Democracy in Burma said by e-mail from Thailand. He accused the bloc of rushing to reward “murky reforms.”
“It’s illogical and a little hypocritical,” Aung said.
While the influence of Myanmar activists who escaped the country in the years following a 1988 crackdown on democracy protesters is waning as the country opens up, they remain players in the debate. Last week, a group of them were lobbying opinion-makers in Washington, including at the State Department and the World Bank.
They say foreign investment before rule of law is established in the impoverished country would do more harm than good and benefit only the military and its cronies, who dominate the most lucrative sectors of the economy, such as timber, gemstones, oil and gas. Most of those resources are in, and need to be transported through, remote, ethnic-minority regions where hundreds of thousands of villagers have been displaced by fighting and where military abuses have been worst.
The Obama administration has taken those concerns on board. While the U.S. has led the charge in engaging Myanmar, it is moving more slowly than the EU in lifting sanctions. It is upgrading diplomatic ties and plans to allow U.S. investment in some sectors, but only in areas it judges would benefit the broader population.
Congressional committees that oversee U.S. policy toward Asia will take up the issue this week, hearing testimony by senior officials from the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Treasury Department.
Khin Ohmar, coordinator of Burma Partnership, a coalition of pro-democracy activists based in several Asian countries, said despite relaxation of restrictions on media and peaceful protests in Myanmar, the military still can act with impunity.
“People talk about President Thein Sein being reform-minded. That may be true. There’s always been reform-minded people, even under the repressive system. But what we need in Burma is institutional changes, not changes based on personalities,” she said in Washington.
