EU considers tighter sanctions against Burma

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-05-18-eu-considers-tighter-sanctions-against-burma


AMELIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS | BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - May 18 2009 14:14

European Union nations on Monday mulled tighter sanctions against Burma's government, but many saw China and India as the best hopes of applying pressure on the junta to free opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, spoke in favour of boosting EU sanctions against the regime as the Nobel peace laureate went on trial facing a further five years in detention.

"We are ready to go forward," the Czech minister said as he arrived for a meeting in Brussels with his EU counterparts.

"It's not the moment to lower the sanctions, it's the moment to increase them," echoed EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

However, other EU foreign ministers and EU officials were looking more for pressure from Burma's giant neighbours.

"I don't think additional sanctions will help because you have seen they have not helped," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

"We have to reinforce dialogue with Burma's neighbours ... I think that is the way forward it should always be a subject of discussion with China, India and others," she added.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said that political sanctions took decades to have an effect in apartheid South Africa and that sort of time lag meant a lot of suffering for the population.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the matter could be addressed at a meeting in Hanoi next week with foreign ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean).