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Keep targeted sanctions in place, says NLD

Irrawaddy - January 17, 2011

Burma's opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said it would continue to support targeted sanctions against the country's ruling regime while the party is reviewing other trade sanctions, according to a senior party official.

"We have consistently supported the targeted sanctions against the regime leadership and its cronies, and we will continue to do so. But as we have said, we will review trade sanctions to find out if they are hurting the people," said Win Tin, a senior NLD leader.

His comment followed calls by the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and also by an alliance of five ethnic political parties in Burma for an end to Western economic sanctions against Burma.

"Such calls are dishonest and those who made them are merely toeing the line of the military regime," said Win Tin, adding that the sanctions have hurt the junta and its cronies and helped the opposition in its struggle for democracy.

On Sunday, the Asean rotating chair, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, said that the international community should respond to recent developments in Burma, such as last year's general election and the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, by removing or easing sanctions against the country's ruling regime.

The calls from the regional body came a day after an alliance of five ethnic minorities parties that participated in the controversial Nov. 7 election issued a joint statement urging an end to the sanctions, saying that they "are causing many difficulties in the important areas of trade, investment and modern technologies for the development of ethnic regions."

"We want to see the end of sanctions against economic investments in our country because they are hurting the people," said Sai Saung Si, the deputy chairman of the Shan Nationalities for Democracy Party, one of the five ethnic political parties which issued the declaration on Saturday.

Since her release from house arrest late last year, Suu Kyi has expressed a desire to review the sanctions, saying she was prepared to work together with Burma's military rulers to remove sanctions that were hurtful to the people.

While the Obama administration has initiated a senior-level diplomatic dialogue with the Burmese military leadership, sanctions continue to be an important tool of US policy.

The Washington Times recently quoted a US Congressional source as saying that the Obama administration would not lift sanctions until the Burmese regime releases all political prisoners, ends attacks against ethnic groups and establishes a meaningful dialogue with opposition groups.

More than 2,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Burma as the country prepares to convene its first session of Parliament in 22 years at the end of this month. The Parliament will be dominated by pro-military lawmakers who won in last year's polls.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Force, a party that broke away from the NLD last year to take part in the election, said that it plans to submit a bill to the Parliament that would grant a general amnesty to all political prisoners and exiled dissidents.

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