A need to act on Burma

Nearly one year ago, the Burmese military junta launched an orchestrated, violent attack against democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of her supporters. Since then, the regime has kept more than 1,000 political activists imprisoned, including elected Members of Parliament. It recently sentenced three Burmese citizens to death for contacting representatives of the International Labour Organisation.

The Burmese Junta, with the cynical support of neighbouring governments, has announced a ‘‘road map to democracy,’’ beginning with a constitutional convention in May. The convention is expected to be stage-managed by the Junta, which has offered no meaningful participation to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, no timetable for progress toward a political transition, no release of political prisoners and no guarantee that the military will cede control to democratically-elected leaders. Instead, the Junta’s proposals seem designed to institutionalise military control by creating a veneer of civilian authority, while meeting only the minimum expectations of Western democracies to avoid further sanctions.

The Burmese regime’s recent actions demonstrate that years of international engagement and patience have not made the dictatorship more humane, reasonable or open to accommodation with its political opponents. On the contrary, it is only in response to international pressure that the regime has made even the smallest moves toward a political settlement with the democratic opposition.

The lesson is clear: The world’s democracies and Burma’s neighbours must press the Junta until it is willing to negotiate an irreversible transition to democratic rule. The legitimacy, authority and commitment of Burma’s democratic leaders to govern their country is not in doubt. But the international commitment to Burma’s democratic transformation is uncertain.

The Western democracies and Burma’s neighbours should immediately take three steps to bolster Burma’s legitimate democratic leaders. First, Congress should promptly renew, and the President sign into law, the ban on Burma’s imports enacted into law last July. These sanctions, which are set to expire after a review period, are supported by Burma’s National League for Democracy. The restrictions have made it more difficult for the Burmese military to tap financial assets abroad, travel or accumulate revenue through trade. The European Union, whose whose trade and assistance programmes give it critical leverage in Southeast Asia, is set to announce a new Common Position on Burma. As part of this new policy, the EU should also initiate targeted sanctions against the regime.

Second, the EU and the US, with support from Asian nations, should urge the Junta to implement immediately the provisions of the UN Commission for Human Rights and the UN General Assembly resolutions — including democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. The US and the EU should also formally place the issue on the agenda of the UN Security Council, and work urgently toward a resolution threatening credible sanctions against the Burmese regime unless it initiates meaningful progress toward democracy.

Third, China, Thailand, India and other Asian nations uncomfortable with a tougher response to the Junta’s crimes must understand that diplomatic obfuscation and obstruction on Burma will profoundly affect their broader bilateral relationships with the Western democracies.

Beyond these steps, the US, Europe and Asian countries must demand the unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and her fellow political prisoners, but make clear that the releases are insufficient. In addition, they should continue calls for a political settlement that reflects the results of the free and fair elections held in 1990. This settlement must include a central, determinative role for the National League for Democracy.

In another era, a dissident playwright named Vaclav Havel wrote of the ‘‘power of the powerless’’ to overcome rule by fear and force, at a time when such a revolution in human freedom seemed impossible. The international community today has the power to help the powerless inside Burma throw off the shackles of tyranny. It is time to assume this moral responsibility. It is time to act.

John McCain is a Republican senator from Arizona. Madeleine Albright was US Secretary of State from 1996 to 2001 — (LAT-WP)