UN CAMPAIGN
Surakiart vows to seek reform in Burma
US Senate votes to extend sanctions against Rangoon for 3 years
Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said he would push for democratic reforms in Burma and the release of its opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest if he becomes the next UN secretary-general. Surakiart, a candidate for the UN's top post, was speaking yesterday at the annual Asean ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur. He said he would pick up the work done by current UN secretary-general Kofi Annan and continue to work closely with Asean. Kofi Annan completes his second five-year term at the end of the year. An informal consensus is that an Asian should take on the job, in line with an unwritten rule of regional rotation at the world body. There are three other Asian candidates, and Surakiart is endorsed by Asean. But he fell behind the Indian and South Korean candidates in an informal poll of Security Council nations last week. Surakiart said he understood Southeast Asian "complications" because he was from the region. "I believe in the role of the secretary-general. We know it is important that democracy must take place in Burma as soon as possible and Aung San Suu Kyi should be released," Surakiart said. However, former Thai ambassador to the UN, Asda Jayanama, said Surakiart was "desperate" because the straw poll saw less than half the 15 Security Council nations encourage him to continue his campaign. "If he was sincere, he should have said this a year ago. Even if he did bring it up a year ago, Burma wouldn't have let him do it unless he invaded the country," Asda said. Meanwhile, in Washington, the US Senate voted to extend economic sanctions against Burma for three years. US lawmakers decried the Burmese regime's lamentable human-rights record. The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act was passed by the US Senate in 2003 and has been renewed every year since then - but so far to little effect, Senate members conceded. "Tragically, Burma's human-rights record has worsened, rather than improved, in the three years since Congress enacted the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act," said Democrat Max Baucus, a supporter of the legislation. Baucus listed a litany of complaints which underscore why the regime merits an extension of sanctions. "Earlier this year, the detention of Aung Sang Suu Kyi was extended for another year. More than 1,100 political prisoners languish in jail in Burma, prevented from expressing their aspirations for a democratic government," Baucus said. AFP, The Nation Kuala Lumpur
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