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By Shaun Tandon (AFP) 

WASHINGTON — The US Congress on Thursday extended a ban on imports from Myanmar, seeking to maintain pressure despite a series of reforms in the country that have prompted an easing of other sanctions.

The Senate and House of Representatives voted separately to extend by one year a ban on all imports from the country formerly known as Burma, which was ruled for decades by generals who gave power to a nominal civilian last year.

President Barack Obama has eased other restrictions on Myanmar in hopes of encouraging reform. On July 11, he gave the green light to US companies to invest in Myanmar and partner with its controversial state oil and gas company.

Lawmakers said they were also encouraged by recent changes in Myanmar, including the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament, but wanted to maintain leverage to press for greater improvements.

"By renewing this bill today and keeping the measure on the books even as we are open to new flexibilities, we will help send a strong signal to those in Burma," Representative Joe Crowley, a member of Obama's Democratic Party, said on the House floor.

Crowley said the measure showed US support for "the immediate release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, an end to violence against all minorities including the Kachin and the Rohingya, and the adoption of genuine democratic reform in Burma."

Republican Representative David Dreier said he would visit Myanmar next week and believed that the extension of sanctions "can play a role in continuing to encourage the positive reforms that we are seeing take place."

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Party's Senate leader, said that the renewed import ban allowed for a potential waiver, giving Myanmar's leaders the chance to see an end to sanctions if they make further progress.

McConnell, who spoke with Suu Kyi about the legislation, said he supported Obama's decision to open Myanmar to US investment and called on American businesses to show the "positive effects" of their involvement.

"I am confident that, as they do elsewhere around the world, US enterprises in Burma will set the standard for ethical and transparent business practices and lead the way for others to follow," McConnell said in a statement.

US businesses have pressed for a greater lifting of restrictions, fearing that they will lose out to competitors from European and Asian nations whose governments do not impose sanctions on Myanmar.

Since taking over last year, President Thein Sein has reached out to Suu Kyi -- who spent most of the past two decades under house arrest -- along with ethnic minority rebels.

But Myanmar's endemic ethnic violence has persisted, with the powerful military battling rebels in the northern state of Kachin despite orders by Thein Sein to halt fighting.

Mob violence has also pitted Myanmar's majority Buddhists against Rohingya Muslims, whom the government does not even recognize as a minority group.

Human Rights Watch said that members of Myanmar's security forces opened fire and raped Rohingyas during recent sectarian violence and did nothing as rival mobs attacked one another.

Farah Pandith, the US special representative to Muslim communities, visited Myanmar for four days until Wednesday and met with members of the Rohingya and other ethnic groups, the State Department said.

Pandith "discussed areas for cooperation with Muslim communities in Burma, including education, rule of law and economic opportunity, with a particular focus on young people," a State Department statement said.

The Obama administration opened dialogue with Myanmar in 2009 in a bid to coax the country out of its long isolation. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a landmark visit in December.

Please read  the statement of US Campaign For Burma : here
Please read the statement of  Senator McConnell : here


CHIEF DEPUTY WHIP JOSEPH CROWLEY
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2012 courtney.gidner@mail.house.gov

Congressman Crowley on Violence in Burma’s Arakan State

(Queens, N.Y.) – Today, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY), a leader in the House on Burma, released the following statement in response to increased violence in Burma’s Arakan State and the Government of Bangladesh’s refusal of refugees from the violence. Communal tensions, long simmering in Arakan State, have erupted this month into violence marked by the burning of homes, killings, and other physical attacks. Both Buddhists and Muslims have been the victims of this recent violence. Some Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority group that has long been persecuted in both Burma and Bangladesh, have fled the violence in Burma to seek safety in Bangladesh. The Government of Bangladesh has openly refused to offer sanctuary, even to the wounded, and has reportedly sent many individuals back to Burma.

“I strongly urge the Government of Bangladesh to adhere to its international obligations not to turn away those trying to escape attacks in Burma and allow those individuals to have access to essential services. I also urge the Government of Burma to protect human rights throughout the country, and respond to this outbreak of violence in a manner that respects the rule of law and fundamental freedoms. The attacks highlight the challenges facing Burma’s government; its country’s leaders should protect the rights of all ethnic minorities, promote dialogue among ethnic groups, and hold perpetrators of crimes accountable under a fair and transparent legal system. The government should follow the calls of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and firmly establish the rule of law in order to bring an end to strife.”

Congressman Crowley is the seven-term representative from the 7th Congressional District of New York, which includes sections of Queens and the Bronx. He is a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and serves as a Chief Deputy Whip in the House of Representatives.


Source here


Ros-Lehtinen Urges Administration to Stop Talks with Burmese Regime; Says ‘Any Concession to Dictatorship would be Grossly Premature’

(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued the following statement on the Obama Administration’s recent overtures to Burma:

“I am distressed that the Administration is prematurely and publicly discussing any major concessions to the Burmese regime, such as nominating an Ambassador. Any concession to the dictatorship would be grossly premature. The world needs to see that the upcoming April elections are not the same kind of sham that we saw in 2010.

“While welcome and long overdue, the release of 591 prisoners of conscience from the Burmese gulag is hardly a ‘momentous step’ toward fundamental reform. The Burmese junta claims the right to round up these individuals again at any time. A former prisoner of conscience said it best, ‘[it’s a] release with a rope around my neck.’

“The Burmese regime’s ongoing military assaults, mass rapes, and atrocities against minority groups prove that it is far too early to regard it as ‘a partner and friend.’ The preliminary agreements between the junta and the Karen National Union (KNU), for example, still do not include a nationwide ceasefire, human rights guarantees, or unrestricted press access to vulnerable areas.

“I call on the Administration to immediately cease talks with the ruthless tyrants in Burma until the junta has been replaced with a duly elected, democratic government that respects human rights and civil liberties.”
source here


    • Rohingya Exodus