In Sign of New Flexibility, Burmese Junta Opens Door to EU Envoys
International Herald Tribune
January 17, 2001
Michael Richardson 

A delegation from the European Union has been given permission to visit Burma soon in another sign that the military government there was trying to placate its international critics, diplomats said Tuesday.

Officials from Western countries that have long advocated sanctions against Burma for its political repression and human rights abuses now contend that the military junta and the opposition, led by the Nobel Peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are ready to negotiate a framework for resolving their deep differences.

"For the first time in over 10 years, there's the possibility that a process of dialogue might get going," said Stanley Roth, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

The human rights situation in Burma, also known as Myanmar, remains "awful," Mr. Roth said, and there will have to be a great improvement before there can be a significant change in relations between the United States and Burma.

"But the fact that we have been calling for dialogue for all these years and that it may now have started and may achieve results is very significant," Mr. Roth said recently in Washington. "I think it could be the key for the Burmese beginning to work out their own problems."

Signs of easing of political tensions in Burma have intensified since the United Nations said last week that an envoy had helped broker direct talks between the junta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Her political party, the National League for Democracy, won overwhelming support in 1990 elections but has never been allowed to govern.

U Lwin, an official with the National League for Democracy, said the talks, which began in October and have been shrouded in secrecy, appeared to have made some progress. A UN spokesman said more substantive discussions were expected to start soon.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined to her residence in Rangoon since September, after angering the junta by twice trying to travel outside the capital on party business.

The UN envoy, Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi twice during his visit this month. He also held talks with Burma's head of military intelligence, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, and Foreign Minister Win Aung.

Mr. Ismail's mission coincided with a weeklong visit to Burma by the Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir bin Mohamad.

The Malaysian government has been leading efforts by the Association of South East Asian Nations to encourage political reconciliation in Burma through a policy of "constructive engagement" between junta and opposition leaders, officials said.

Burma, which joined ASEAN in 1997, has lost substantial amounts of foreign aid and investment largely because of international concern about human rights abuses there. The situation has added to the burden on its already struggling economy.

A Southeast Asian official said the National League for Democracy had an incentive to seek talks, as well.

"Aung San Suu Kyi also recognizes that she is getting nowhere by insisting that the league is the only legitimate political authority and refusing to talk to the military rulers who have de facto power," the official said.

A Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times, wrote Tuesday: "There is great promise that a sort of settlement, if not a conjunction of interests, can be forged. Myanmar has been in a state of suspended animation, neither in danger of splintering nor able to stitch together a functioning economy on investments from the region alone."

At a meeting in Laos in December between ministers from the European Union and ASEAN, Burma agreed in principle to allow an EU mission to visit, with no restrictions on whom the delegation could meet.

Marius Haas, the German ambassador in Rangoon, said Tuesday the dates had been set for Jan. 29 to 31, Reuters reported.

"The delegation will comprise representatives from the present EU president, Sweden, the next president, Belgium, the Commission of the EU and the Council of the EU," Mr. Haas said.

Mr. Haas also indicated that the talks between the military and opposition, which he described as "a very historic step indeed," could help to improve relations between Burma and the EU, which has banned senior Burmese officials from visiting Europe.

But Sidney Jones, Asia director of Human Rights Watch in New York, said it was not clear what kind of concessions either side in Burma would make.

In an order that took effect over the weekend, the junta told the state-controlled media to halt personal attacks on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ms. Jones said such confidence-building measures would have to go "much, much further" and include the release of the opposition leader from house arrest.

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