Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 15:33
London (dpa) – The British government Tuesday called for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be installed in “her rightful place” as the leader of Myanmar.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband, speaking at the Labour Party congress in Bournemouth, southern Britain, said it was “brilliant” to see Suu Kyi “alive and well” outside her home in Yangon last week.
“I think it will be a hundred times better when she takes her rightful place as the elected leader of a free and democratic Burma,” Miliband told delegates.
Earlier, Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for “immediate international action” – including discussions at the UN Security Council – to prevent a threatened military crackdown on protesters in Myanmar.
Brown urged the military regime in Yangon to “exercise restraint.”
“We have all been watching with concern the unfolding human tragedy in Burma, which requires immediate international action,” Brown wrote in letters to the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN).
“Violent suppression of the demonstrations would be a tragedy and another missed opportunity for Burma,” wrote Brown. He called on the United Nations to encourage Myanmar’s key regional neighbours to urge the authorities in Yangon to “pursue reconciliation.”
Brown made his appeals in letters to the current holder of the presidency of the European Union presidency, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, and United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki- moon.
Brown said a tightening of EU sanctions on Myanmar should be considered if the military intervened to stop the peaceful protests in Myanmar.
“I would strongly support a presidency initiative to warn the Burmese government that we are watching their behaviour and that the EU will impose tougher EU sanctions if they make the wrong choices,” Brown said in the letter to Socrates.
In his letter to the UN, Brown urged that “concerted international action” was needed to discourage violence. “We need to stand together,” he wrote.
Brown said he would support an urgent visit to Burma by UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, as well as discussions at the UN Security Council.
Miliband said the world needed new institutions to “redefine global rules” for the conduct of nations.
“From Burma to Zimbabwe, we need to ensure all countries feel it’s better to play by the rules rather than ignore them,” said Miliband.
Maung Zarni, founder of the Free Burma Coalition and a visiting fellow at Oxford University in Britain, said Tuesday that the government in Yangon appeared to have shut down internet servers.
“The government obviously is sufficiently threatened by growing protests,”, Zarni said in a BBC interview.
He cautioned that possible moves to put pressure on the regime should be “taken very carefully due to its alliances in the region.”
“The regime is in a very, very strong dual economic and dual political position, sandwiched between China and India and three other authoritarian countries,” he said.
