Re: British MPs Call for UN Action on Burma
jirjis
The Black Mesa
Gordon Freeman
rebuilding atlantis in the bay of bengal
<say...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1112922566.6...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> British MPs Call for UN Action on Burma
> By Yeni
> April 07, 2005
>
> Several British members of parliament issued a statement on Wednesday
> calling on the British government to put Burma on the agenda of the UN
> Security Council and to support detained Burmese opposition leader Aung
> San Suu Kyi.
>
>
> "It is time the Burmese government understood what concern British
> parliamentarians have about the ill treatment they mete out to their
> citizens," said Vera Baird, Labour MP for Redcar and joint
> chairperson of the group, in the statement.
>
> John Bercow, Conservative MP for Buckingham, added: "British MPs want
> the UN Security Council to stop ducking the issue of Burmese tyranny
> and to start confronting the regime with explicit demands for
> democratic change and the timetable for that change to be delivered."
> He added: "It reflects too the hostility of freedom lovers to the
> brutal military dictatorship in Burma which has a record of bestial
> oppression of its own people."
>
> The group of 289 British MPs from all parties, including several
> former ministers and high profile MPs, began their move while
> Southeast Asian lawmakers are urging their government leaders to bring
> pressure to bear on the Burmese regime to free Suu Kyi and show its
> commitment to democratic reform.
>
> The Asean parliamentarians want to see the Rangoon generals start
> democratic reforms before taking the chairmanship of the Association
> of Southeast Asian Nations in 2006. Asean foreign ministers are set to
> meet informally next week in Cebu in the central Philippines, with the
> Burma chairmanship issue on the agenda.
>
> Asked by newsmen about the growing concern among some of Burma's
> Asean partners about the chairmanship issue, visiting Burmese Prime
> Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win's simple reply in Hanoi on Thursday was:
> "It will be okay." But he wouldn't commit himself on any plan to
> release Suu Kyi.
>
> Burma has not yet been a formal agenda item at the UN Security Council.
> Unlike the US and EU, the UN has not clamped sanctions on Burma, though
> UN special envoy to Burma Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail has publicly
> expressed his frustration over being prevented from visiting the
> country since early 2004.
>