WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday ruled
out an immediate end to its main sanctions on Myanmar, saying it wanted to
preserve leverage to push the regime on ending ethnic violence and other key
issues.
The European Union and Canada this week suspended
most sanctions and Japan waived Myanmar's debt as rewards after a dramatic year
of reforms in which President Thein Sein freed political prisoners and reached
out to opponents.
President Barack Obama's administration has taken a
lead in negotiating with Myanmar and has eased some restrictions, including
ending a ban on financial transactions by US non-governmental organisations.
But Kurt Campbell, a key architect of the US
outreach to Myanmar, told cautious lawmakers that the administration had no
"gauzy gaze and rose-coloured glasses" and would only ease sanctions
in "certain prescribed areas."
"I would simply say that there is no intention
to 'lift' sanctions," Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East
Asian affairs, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"We recognise very clearly that there have to
be provisions and capabilities to be able to respond if there is a reversal or
a stalling out (of reforms), that leverage is an essential component of our
strategy," he said.
Campbell hailed actions taken by Thein Sein,
including the decision to allow April 1 elections that gave Aung San Suu Kyi -
who spent most of the past two decades under house arrest - a seat in
parliament.
But Campbell said reforms have mostly impacted urban
and Burmese-majority areas and have not been felt by ethnic minorities in the
country formerly known as Burma, which has some of the world's longest-running
separatist conflicts.
"We need to ensure that that process extends
into the country as a whole and we are troubled by very clear - and we believe
reliable - reports of continuing attacks and atrocities that are completely
antithetical to the overall effort that we're seeking to achieve," he
said.
Human rights groups have voiced particular concern
about allegations of rape, forced labour and other abuses in Kachin state,
where troops appeared to ignore Thein Sein's orders in December to halt
violence.
The United States maintains strict sanctions against
exports from Myanmar, including on gems, lumber and other lucrative products
seen as sources of funding for the long-dominant military.
- AFP/de
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programmes. Many thanks for visiting www.yourvietnamexpert.com and/or contacting us at contact@yourvietnamexpert.com
Dear
Reader,
May I
invite you to visit our new blog: IIMS-Asean http://iims-asean.blogspot.com/
News
and activities of the International Institute of Medicine and Science Asean
Chapter of IIMS, Inc. California, USA - Health care, Life Science, Education,
Research, Philanthropy. Asean is the economic organisation of ten countries
located in South East Asia: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. IIMS is a
non-profit organization.
No comments:
Post a Comment