Special representative for Myanmar - EU News

Michael Green
Bush to name special representative for Myanmar
President George W. Bush intends to nominate one of his former senior Asia advisers as special representative for the military-run country of Myanmar.

The White House said Monday that Bush will nominate Michael Green to the position.

Green is an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a professor at Georgetown University.

Green would have to be confirmed by the Senate, but it is unclear when that might happen. Lawmakers and the White House are dealing with an economic crisis during Bush's last weeks in office.

Green served in Bush's Republican administration, but both Democrats and Republicans favor tough sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma.

The representative is meant to review U.S. sanctions and talk to Myanmar's neighbors.

EU ready to boost sanctions on Myanmar, ministers say
10.11.08 15:18
The European Union is ready to toughen its sanctions on Myanmar if no progress is made on democracy, but would consider easing them if the situation improved, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said Monday.

EU member states "deplore the lack of progress made this year towards a genuine transition to democracy" and are "prepared to revise, amend or reinforce the measures (they have) already adopted to keep pace with developments," a joint statement said.

The EU is "determined to help the people of Myanmar to achieve stability, prosperity and democracy," the ministers said, reported dpa.

But the bloc holds that "elections scheduled for 2010 will have no credibility unless the Myanmar authorities unconditionally release all political prisoners, in particular Daw Aung Sang Suu Kyi, and initiate a political process with UN support," the statement said.

The EU has long condemned Myanmar's military regime for its lack of democratic accountability and the long-term arrest of pro-democracy leader Suu Kyi.

However, Monday's meeting also welcomed the "close cooperation" between the UN, ASEAN and the Myanmar authorities in reaction to Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the country in May.

E.U. Urges Myanmar Junta To Free Political Prisoners

(RTTNews) - The European Union Monday warned that Myanmar's next elections scheduled for 2010 "will have no credibility" unless the repressive regime releases Nobel peace laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, media reports said.

A joint statement issued by 27 foreign ministers following a meeting in Brussels deplored "the lack of progress made this year towards a genuine transition to democracy in Myanmar since the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations by the military authorities."

They stressed that the Myanmar elections will have "no credibility" unless the authorities "unconditionally release all political prisoners, in particular Suu Kyi, and initiate a political process with United Nations support" with the opposition and ethnic groups.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but Myanmar's junta never allowed them to form a government. She has spent most of the intervening years under house arrest in the country, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.