WASHINGTON DC — The Obama administration took another step
Wednesday in unraveling tough US sanctions against Burma by waiving a visa ban
to promote engagement with its reformist government.
The White House announced the
step ahead of a visit next month to New York by President Thein Sein to the UN
General Assembly.
Spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said
it is not a blanket lifting of the ban, and the US will still screen Burmese
officials for evidence of complicity in gross human rights abuses.
President Barack Obama delegated
authority to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to waive the ban for “certain
individuals.” Under 2008 legislation, the ban covers officials of the former
ruling junta, the military and those who lend it financial support. Immediate
family members of such individuals are also banned.
Hayden said that by engaging
Thein Sein and select Burmese ministers and deputy ministers, “we can build
trust, create opportunities to press for further reform, and give key reformers
a better understanding of democracy and US policy.”
In recent months, the US has
restored full diplomatic relations and suspended investment sanctions to reward
the country also known as Burma for shifting from five decades of authoritarian
rule. It has already allowed some US visits by officials.
The US, however, has left in
place an import ban and remains concerned over political prisoners, ethnic
conflict, and Burma’s ties with North Korea.
Thein Sein’s upcoming visit to
the US will coincide with one by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who will
meet administration and congressional leaders and receive the Congressional
Gold Medal, the legislature’s highest civilian honor.
In Burma’s latest effort to ease
state control, it announced Tuesday that it is cutting about a third of the
names from a blacklist that has restricted more than 6,000 people—both
foreigners and Burmese—from traveling to and from the country.
But the US Campaign for Burma, a
Washington-based activist group, complained on Wednesday that the Burmese
authorities have yet to grant passports to 15 veteran student activist leaders
and many former political prisoners.
“Their application for passports
is delayed while many government officials, ruling party members, and cronies
are freely traveling all over the world including the U. and Europe,” said the
group’s executive director Aung Din.
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