Bloomberg News: U.S. Plans 'New Approach' to Myanmar, Will Engage With Junta

By: Janine Zacharia

 The U.S. said it is adopting a “new approach” to Myanmar that includes engaging directly with the military leaders in Myanmar because sanctions alone haven’t been effective.

The U.S. will be “moving in a direction of both engagement and continued sanctions,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in New York yesterday. By themselves, sanctions “have not produced the results” the U.S. wanted, she said after a meeting of foreign ministers from the Friends of Myanmar group.

The U.S. policy will involve “engagement, appropriate sanctions and humanitarian assistance,” Clinton earlier told the meeting, according to a transcript of her prepared remarks provided by the State Department.

The U.S. is leading international calls for the military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, to make progress toward democracy and has dismissed the junta’s plans to hold elections next year under a new constitution as an attempt to retain power. It has imposed trade and financial sanctions on the junta.

Clinton’s announcement is in keeping with decisions made by President Barack Obama to engage diplomatically with U.S. foes including Iran and North Korea.

“The lack of democracy in Burma and the authorities’ abysmal record on human rights are at the heart of country’s problems,” Clinton said in her prepared remarks. “The Burmese authorities’ policy of self-imposed isolation only makes this situation worse. To help Burma achieve genuine democratic reform, we must be willing to engage directly” with the junta.

Sanctions Remain

The U.S. believes that sanctions “remain an important part of our policy,” Clinton told reporters at the United Nations after the meeting. The U.S. will provide more specifics on the engagement shortly, Clinton said, adding that “engagement versus sanctions” is a “false choice.”

Clinton said the U.S. is concerned at Myanmar’s ties with North Korea as they relate to weapons proliferation.

“The U.S. should be very careful with any policy changes,” Moe Zaw Oo, a spokesman for the Thailand-based exiled wing of Myanmar’s opposition National League for Democracy, said by phone today. “It is a little bit early for us to assess whether the changes will be really effective for the Burmese people. We have to wait and see.”

Myanmar is facing a critical year in 2010, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement after the meeting of the Friends of Myanmar group.

“The first planned election in 20 years must be held in an inclusive and credible manner in order to advance the prospects for stability,” Ban said.

Myanmar last week declared an amnesty for about 7,000 prisoners, a move Ban said fell “short of expectations.”

Political Prisoners

The military holds more than 2,000 political prisoners, including Buddhist monks, journalists and artists and has doubled the number of such detainees in the past two years, Human Rights Watch said in a report last week.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD leader, remains under house arrest. She has spent 13 years in detention since the NLD won elections in 1990, a result the military rejected.

Myanmar’s junta triggered international condemnation last month when it extended her custody order for 18 months after convicting the opposition leader of violating the terms of her detention. Suu Kyi, 64, is appealing against her conviction.

Senator’s Visit

Senator Jim Webb became the first senior U.S. official to meet with junta leader Senior General Than Shwe when the Virginia Democrat visited Myanmar last month and secured the release of John Yettaw.

Yettaw was imprisoned for swimming to Suu Kyi’s lakeside home in the former capital, Yangon, a visit that prompted charges to be brought against the opposition leader.

The UN has called on the junta to open “genuine” talks with Suu Kyi and begin national reconciliation.

Clinton, Ban and Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo, who also attended the meeting of the Friends of Myanmar, called for Suu Kyi’s release.

“Our engagement with Myanmar must take a longer term view beyond 2010,” Yeo said. “Singapore sees the army as being part of the problem, but also as a necessary part of the solution and in the end what’s required is a process of national reconciliation. It will take time.”

Singapore is part of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations, which includes Myanmar.

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