The new US ambassador to Burma, Derek Mitchell, has praised the
country’s leaders in his first in-depth interview, but he expressed concern
about the fragility of the reform effort.
He said U.S. officials continue
to receive credible reports of human-rights abuses in ethnic-minority areas,
and Burmese officials haven't yet put to rest long-standing worries about
possible ties between the Burmese military and North Korea.
“We still feel there is a working
majority of people in the country and in the government who are committed to
progress,” including more openness and wider civil liberties, he told The Wall
Street Journal in an article published on Monday. “But I don't think anyone has
any illusions that there are going to be lots of bumps, lots of setbacks, and
not a clear path forward.”
High on his list of his concerns
was the often-postponed, foreign investment law under consideration in
Parliament now. Its passage has been delayed because of local business people’s
concerns about being displaced by multinational companies, he said.
Recent media reports have
indicated that the government is now considering restricting foreign
involvement in some sectors, including agriculture, but recent drafts of the
law haven't been available, he told the newspaper.
It would help, he said, if
stakeholders—including foreign businesses—could offer advice. If that added
more time to the process, he said, that's OK. “We want quality, not speed,” he
said.
“Businesses can wait a little
longer" if it means a more durable and predictable set of investment laws,
he said.
Mitchell said there is no
timetable for lifting the remaining US sanctions, and the US has “constant
discussions” about what would be needed “to get to that stage.”
To get sanctions lifted, though,
he said, Burma would have to begin releasing the “hundreds” of political
prisoners still behind bars, confirm it has cut off weapons transfers with
North Korea “once and for all,” and take more substantial steps to achieve
peace in ethnic-controlled areas – a task he described as “the defining
challenge of Myanmar.”
“The wild card in all of this is
the military,” he said. If “at some point there is a sense of instability here
and chaos in society, what will the military do?” It is also unclear how other
groups would respond, he said.
Mizzima News
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