An image from this week’s “water festival” in Rangoon, Burma. Photo by the International Herald Tribune.
Here’s some of the latest news about Burma:
Both the Agence France-Presse and the International Herald Tribune report on Burma’s New Year “water festival” in Rangoon.
The AFP also report on the meeting of Asia Pacific ministers on the island of Bali to discuss the plight of Burma’s Rohingya peoples.
The New York Times writes about the uncertain future of those Rohingya refugees now living in Indonesia.
A press briefing at the U.S. State Department today clarified which sanctions against the junta are required by law and which are discretionary.
Speaking of the junta and the State Department, the Washington Post writes about how the State Department may replace its sanctions diplomacy with a “carrot-and-stick approach.”
The AFP reports that ten of the U.S. Senate’s seventeen women senators have signed a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking to “step up pressure on [Burma's] ruling junta to scrap elections plans and free democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.” The signers were Senators Dianne Feinstein, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Patty Murray, Olympia Snowe, Blanche Lincoln, Maria Cantwell, Susan Collins, Barbara Boxer, Amy Klobuchar, Barbara Mikulski, and Lisa Murkowski.
Ban responds to the letter from the senators, saying:
The Secretary-General has received a letter signed by a number of US Senators on the situation in Myanmar. The Secretary-General and his Special Adviser share their concern about the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Secretary-General and his Special Adviser have repeatedly called for her release and that of other political prisoners, and will continue to do so.
The Secretary-General continues to follow closely the situation in Myanmar, including through his Special Adviser, to promote national reconciliation, democratic transition, and respect for human rights in accordance with the mandate given to him by the General Assembly.
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An image from this week’s “water festival” in Rangoon, Burma. Photo by the International Herald Tribune.
