Australia extends sanctions against Myanmar junta

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/22/asia/AS-Australia-Myanmar.php

The Associated PressPublished: October 22, 2008

CANBERRA, Australia: Australia extended financial sanctions against another 45 of Myanmar's military leaders Wednesday as a protest against the junta's lack of progress toward democracy.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the new list of 463 individuals singled out for sanctions included members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, government ministers and military officers as well as the regime's business associates and relatives.

It replaces a list of 418 people announced a year ago after the junta brutally crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in Myanmar, which is also known as Burma.

"This was, unfortunately, only the most recent very public instance of the brutal treatment meted out to civil society in that country and to those seeking to make Burma a better society and a nation based on democratic norms and ideals," Smith told Parliament.



"Australia will continue to press Burma's regime for meaningful political progress toward democracy," he added.

Today in Asia - Pacific
India launches first unmanned orbiter to the moonNext week, our hero chooses a MédocUrban cowboys take on Delhi's sacred cowsSmith said the detention of 2,000 political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is "a major impediment to political progress."

The junta's initial response to the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in May was "very disappointing" and the referendum days later that approved Myanmar's new military-backed constitution was "a sham," Smith said.

The cyclone killed more than 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing, according to the government — the worst natural disaster in the nation's modern history.

Australia has long banned defense exports to Myanmar and denies travel visas to members of the regime.