Burma visit marks first step in Union bid to encourage dialogue on human rights

Date: 15/07/1999

By Gareth Harding

THE EU is taking its first steps towards restoring political contacts with Burma.

The move is aimed at giving the Union a platform to voice its concerns about the country's human rights record and to help broker an agreement between the military regime and the pro-democracy opposition.

Senior officials from the past, present and future presidencies of the EU travelled to Rangoon last week for the first high-level meeting with their Burmese counterparts for more than two years.

Council of Ministers officials attempted to play down the importance of the trip, describing it as nothing more than a "fact-finding mission". But diplomats say the Union has a dual mission in fostering ties with the former British colony, renamed Myanmar by its military rulers.

"The main purpose is to seek possibilities for a dialogue between the government and the EU," said Finland's ambassador to Thailand and Burma Tauno Kaaria. "But if at the same time we could establish a dialogue between the parties, so much the better."

The very fact that the visit took place at all has raised eyebrows in some quarters. The EU has slapped a ban on senior Burmese officials entering its territory and Rangoon had been expected to respond with similar measures.

The director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma office Harn Yawnghwe said the decision to allow the delegation into the country was probably due to pressure from other members of the Association of South East-Asian Nations ahead of an EU-ASEAN meeting later this month.

During the two-day visit, Union officials not only met senior government ministers but also the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and the leaders of the four main ethnic groups.

The NLD, led by Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, but the military ignored the result and embarked on a wave of terror which led to the arrest of thousands of its members.

In response, the EU imposed restrictions on trade with the recalcitrant regime and banned high-level officials from entering Europe. This led to the cancellation of a meeting between foreign ministers from the EU and ASEAN earlier this year for the third time running.

The presence of Burma in the Asian trade club has strained relations between the two blocs since Rangoon joined in 1997. It has also led to splits among Union member states over how best to deal with the military regime in Burma.

The UK, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries favour a hardline stance, while France, Germany and most southern European states would prefer to see closer ties between the EU and the country.

After Burma's latest crack-down on the pro-democracy movement, Union governments warned that they would "consider further restrictive measures in the light of the worsening situation in the country". Although the pressure for more stringent measures remains, a Council official said that "if the meeting with the Burmese had not been held, it would have strengthened the camp favouring the strengthening of sanctions".