Chiang Mai - Australia on Wednesday announced the expansion of financial sanctions against Burma's ruling generals, saying the move aims at encouraging the country's rulers to move towards political reform.
Stephen Smith, Australian Foreign Minister, in a ministerial statement read out to Parliament on Wednesday, said Australia views sanctions against the Burmese generals as necessary in order to gain maximum impact in encouraging them to implement reforms.
"To ensure this, the Australian Government has renewed the list of individuals subject to Australian financial sanctions," Smith said.
The updated sanctions list names 463 individuals, including members of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, ministers, senior military officers, prominent business associates of the regime, and immediate family members of these individuals. The list previously named 418 individuals.
"The updated sanctions list, which comes into effect and which I announce today, reflects personnel movements in the regime during the last year, as well as information obtained since October 2007," Smith noted.
He added that while sanctions will maintain pressure on the Burmese regime, they are not aimed at the Burmese people themselves and reassured the public of Australia's commitment to providing humanitarian assistance for Burmese people.
Australia has thus far provided $55 million in humanitarian aid to assist in the relief and recovery efforts following the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, which left an estimated 130,000 dead or missing.
Australia first introduced a ban on defense exports to Burma in 1991, later imposing financial sanctions in October 2007.
Armed ethnic cease-fire groups won't be pressured to disarm, says Southeast Command
Wed 22 Oct 2008, IMNA
The State Peace and Development Council is not going to pressure ethnic cease-fire groups to surrender their arms, says the commander of the Southeast Command, based in Mon State's capital city of Moulmein.
The Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), will not be pressured to disarm, said the commander, General Thet Naing Win.
General Thet Naing Win told New Mon State Party (NMSP) officers that the NMSP does not have to worry about surrendering. Even as an armed group, the general said, the party could continue cooperating with the regime.
IMNA sources in the NMSP, however, expressed skepticism. Burma's new constitution grants control of armed groups to the ministry of defense, the sources pointed out. Telling the NMSP it won't be pushed to surrender amounts to sleight of hand, a trick designed to distract the party, one of the sources charged.
According to NMSP officers inside Mon State, the MNLA will never agree to be under regime control and will never surrender its arms. The MNLA and NMSP will also never separate, the officers said.
According to the officers, the party will not necessarily abide by the regime's new constitution. According to the regime, the new constitution was approved by 92% of voters in a May 2008 referendum. The referendum, however, has been almost universally condemned as an undemocratic sham.
The drafting process of the constitution was also flawed, say opposition sources, who point out the key voices were excluded. Though the NMSP initially participated in a National Convention held to craft the document, the party opted out in frustration. Observers were sent later in 2006, but did not provide input.
The junta has scheduled elections for 2010, but an NMSP spokesperson has said the party will not participate. In a meeting called by the Southeast Command three weeks ago, General Thet Naing Win told the party that its stance on the election could impact peace in Mon State. The NMSP and the SPDC signed a cease-fire in 1995.
