[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
CNN/Reuter: Feb. 19, 1999
Myanmar says EU reneged on ASEAN talks deal
February 19, 1999
Web posted at: 3:08 AM EST (0808 GMT)
SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Myanmar Foreign Minister
Win Aung said on
Friday the European Union had reneged on a deal that
would allow Myanmar to
attend a meeting between Europe and the Association of
South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
Win Aung said he had agreed to an EU proposal to talk
about human rights and
other thorny issues on the sidelines of the Berlin
meeting next month in return
for the Europeans allowing his participation.
He was speaking a day after ASEAN-member Indonesia
threatened to call off
the ministerial meeting with the grouping's oldest
dialogue partner because the
EU had said Myanmar would not be allowed to participate.
"There was one suggestion -- they asked me whether I was
willing to talk with
the...EU on the sidelines of the meeting. I said why not,
I agree to that, I would
like to talk to you," Win Aung told Reuters in an
interview.
"But nearer the day we have found many many conditions
coming out of the
EU. First they said if you are willing to meet, there
will not be a problem, then
they change their mind."
The EU has barred Myanmar senior officials from attending
the meeting
because of the military-ruled state's human rights
record. ASEAN says all its
foreign ministers must be allowed to attend the talks,
which could bring
much-needed financial aid.
The issue, a sticking point since Myanmar was admitted to
ASEAN 18 months
ago, has already led to cancellation of a junior level
EU-ASEAN meeting in
Bangkok last month.
An EU diplomat in Bangkok said he thought it would take a
diplomatic miracle
to save the Berlin meeting.
He said he believed a majority of EU member states would
be willing to accept
Myanmar's participation at a vice-ministerial level
provided Yangon agreed to
discuss human rights.
"Frankly, though, I am not optimistic about the
representation issue," he said.
"ASEAN has to choose between its relationship with Burma
and its dialogue
with the EU."
Win Aung said ASEAN would not leave him out. "The rest
will not go without
us, without me. Do you think they will go there without
me participating in that
meeting? I don't think so."
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
"If the EU side is agreeable for the participation of
every country from ASEAN,
then there will not be any problem," Win Aung said. "I
don't want to say the ball
is in their court, but we need to reach some
understanding."
He said Myanmar would not succumb to external pressure
for change and was
working on its own problems at its own pace.
"We have our own agenda to build our own nation. If there
is pressure this will
just hamper us. If there is no pressure, we will move
forward very quickly."
He blamed critics inside and outside the country for
painting a "totally incorrect"
picture of Myanmar.
"We are also human beings and we respect human beings and
human rights,"
Win Aung said.
Human rights activists estimate that 1,000 to 2,000
political prisoners are
currently in custody in Myanmar. Pro-democracy groups
based in Thailand say
some 270 political activists were sentenced last month to
prison terms of seven
to 52 years.
Earlier this month Yangon freed "on humanitarian grounds"
a dissident writer it
jailed in 1993 for distributing anti-government leaflets.
An EU diplomat in Bangkok said this single release could
not be considered
the significant progress the EU was looking for on the
country's human rights
record.
But Win Aung said the EU would have to sit at the
negotiating table with
Myanmar at some point.
"Only by talking and by having contact, by having the
chance to explain about
each other, can we get a better understanding. Based on
that, only then can we
move forward," Win Aung said.