Guarded hope as Obama engages Burma
By Shaun TandonMon Nov 16 14:07:40 EST 2009
Mon Nov 16 03:07:40 UTC 2009
WASHINGTON, Nov 15 AFP - Supporters of Burma's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi voiced guarded hope after US President Barack Obama raised her case directly with the junta, but some accused Southeast Asian leaders of undercutting his message.
In Singapore, Obama on Sunday held a first-ever summit with leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) where he pressed member Burma to enter dialogue with the opposition.
The summit was a dramatic symbol of the Obama administration's new approach of engaging Burma.
Just months ago, any senior US official - let alone the president himself - meeting the military regime would have been unthinkable.
The White House said Obama asked Prime Minister Thein Sein to free all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of her time under house arrest since her party swept 1990 elections and was prevented from taking power.
But in a joint statement, the US and ASEAN leaders made no mention of Aung San Suu Kyi and only called for Burma next year to hold a free election - which the opposition has called a sham aimed at legitimising the junta.
Aung Din, a former political prisoner who heads the US Campaign for Burma advocacy group, said that Obama sent a powerful signal by pressuring the junta in person in front of the other nine ASEAN leaders.
"Sure, certain members of ASEAN may not go along. But it doesn't matter. They could not run away from Obama's message and the enhanced US partnership with ASEAN," he said.
Aung Din voiced hope that Obama will raise Burma on the subsequent leg of his trip in China - the main commercial and military partner of the junta.
But human rights group Amnesty International criticised ASEAN leaders for failing to reach a consensus to call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi or other prisoners in the statement.
"We are extremely disappointed," said T Kumar, the director for international advocacy at Amnesty International USA. "It is a step backward."
"We welcome and we appreciate President Obama personally raising Aung San Suu Kyi's case," he said.
"But the joint statement sent the wrong signal, letting the Burmese feel that it is only the United States and not ASEAN that is pushing them," he said.
ASEAN - whose ranks include communist nations Laos and Vietnam - has long faced criticism both from abroad and from within some member-states for not taking a firmer stand on Burma.
ASEAN's last summit in Thailand that ended on March 1 also did not directly name Aung San Suu Kyi in its final statement but - unlike on Sunday - said "the release of political prisoners" would help national reconciliation.
The diplomatic push will soon face a stark challenge as the junta prepares elections next year, the country's first since the 1990 debacle.
The United States has pressed for a free vote but said it is sceptical.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy has called a boycott but observers expect it will face pressure to take part if the junta makes concessions.
Obama's meeting was the first between a US president and a Burmese leader since 1966.
It followed a rare visit earlier this month to Burma by Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia.
