Ottawa may resume Burma aid

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Ottawa may resume Burma aid
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Marleau's comment appears at odds with
Canada's policy on human-rights violations
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The Globe and Mail(April 22, 1998)
By Rod Mickleburgh(China Bureau)

Beijing - Canada is considering resuming foreign aid to
Burma, one of the world's most authoritarian regimes, after
a 10-year hiatus.

The surprise disclosure was made during an interview here
with International Co-operation Minister Diane Marleau, at
the end of a two-week swing inspecting Canada-funded
development projects in Bangladesh, Thailand and China.

Asked why the Canadian International Development Agency
underwrites development in China but not in Burma, when both
countries are guilty of well-documented human-rights abuses,
Ms. Marleau replied:

"To be honest, I think as time goes by you may see us
considering some incursions into some areas [of Burma]. It
may happen sooner, rather than later.

"We're not quite ready yet, but we're monitoring it very
closely. We realize that there's much there that needs to be
done as well [as in China]," the minster said.

Ms. Marleau's remarks appear to fly in the face of trade
restrictions imposed on Burma last year by Foreign Affairs
Minister Lloyd Axworthy, following a fruitless attempt to
launch a human-rights dialogue with Burmese leaders.

They also come just as the United Nations Human Rights
Commission unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday
expressing "deep concern" over continued human-rights
violations in Burma, including arbitrary execution, torture
and repression of ethnic and religious minorities.

At the same time, it was learned that Burmese authorities
have failed San San, a prominent woman opposition leader in
her later 60s, for 25 years.

Canada suspended its bilateral aid program in Burma in 1988
after thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were
massacred as the country's brutal military regime -- then
called the State Law and Order Restoration Council but now
known as the State Peace and Development Council -- took
control.

Human-rights activists in Canada were quick to denounce Ms.
Marleau's suggestion that CIDA might return to Burma, which
is officially known as Myanmar.

"It is not possible to do any kind of sustainable
development inside Burma without having some connection with
the Burmese military regime," said Christine Harmston, co-
ordinator for the non-governmental organization Canadian
Friends of Burma.

"we are opposed to any Canadian-government money going into
Burma at this time, without significant democratic reforms."

Ms. Harmston pointed out that the country's most prominent
pro-democracy activist, Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,
has urged that economic sanctions be maintained against
Burma as long as repression continues.

Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Rangoon,
after state council leaders refused to recognize the
sweeping election victory won by her party, the National
League for Democracy, in 1990.

Ms. Harmston said the absence of credible NGOs within Burma
makes it impossible to do credible aid work there, despite
the country's impoverishment.

"It's just not feasible. It's not going to happen," she
said. "The existence of the military government is causing
the destitution of its own people. There's hardly any civil
society left in that country."

Ms. Harmston said aid projects in Burma by the United
Nations Development Program are floundering because of
corruption and lack of accountability.

Last August, Mr. Axworthy announced that Canada would join
the United States and the European Union in imposing
selective economic sanctions against Burma. Preferential
tariffs on Burmese goods were withdrawn and Canadian
businesses now require special permits to export their
products to Burma.

"Burma's military leaders have made no effort to improve the
current situation and have repeatedly failed to respond to
the international community's attempts to open channels of
communication," Mr. Axworthy said at the time.

Although bilateral aid to Burma ended in 1988, Canada has
spent $8.4 million during the past three years to assist
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, plus $660,000 since 1992 to
help refugees from Burma stranded along the Thailand border.

A report presented to the UN Human Rights Commission in
Geneva before yesterday's vote said the people of Burma live
in fear, while the ruling council has failed to take any
steps toward democracy and refused to co-operate with UN's
special rapporteur, Rajsoomer Lalah of Mauritius.

As for the newly imprisoned opposition leader San San, a
spokesman for the ruling council said she was thrown back
into jail to serve a previously imposed 25-year sentence for
treason after violating parole.

However, activists said she was punished for refusing to end
her political activities and doing an interview with the BBC
critical of the military rulers.

San San, who had been elected to parliament in 1990, was
arrested last October, along with seven other leading
members of Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the NLD.

Ms. Marleau, meanwhile, defended CIDA's participation in
countries with poor human-rights records, such as China.

Over the years, she said Canada has won the trust of the
Chinese government "and we may be able to accomplish more in
a quiet sort of way because of this trust factor"

This trust extends well beyond China, Ms. Marleau added.

"If there's something that Canada has been able to
accomplish that is absolutely extraordinary for our
population, it's there respect and trust with which many of
these governments deal with us.

"It's not for nothing that we managed to get 123 countries
to sign the land-mines treaty."

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