Thailand 'ready to help Burma'

NT News - AFP

March 14, 2008 - THAILAND opposes Western sanctions on neighbouring Burma and is ready to help the military-run country hold a referendum on a new constitution in May, the foreign minister said.

"Thailand disagrees with sanctions," Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said before leaving for Burma with Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who was making a one-day official visit to the country.

Burma is under US and European sanctions, which have been tightened after the junta's bloody crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protests in September 2007.

At least 31 people were killed and 74 reported missing during the violence, according to the United Nations. Human Rights Watch has put the number of dead at about 100 people, far higher than the 15 dead reported by the junta.

But Mr Noppadon said Thailand favoured negotiations over sanctions, adding that talks with iron-fisted generals could lead to positive developments in the country, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

The foreign minister also said the kingdom was ready to help Burma hold its constitutional referendum planned for May.

"If Myanmar (Burma) wants assistance from Thailand, we are ready to offer help as a friendly country," Mr Noppadon said.

Burma's junta has already refused UN technical assistance and foreign observers at the May referendum, which the regime says will pave the way for elections in 2010.

If held, the polls would be the first since detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi led the National League for Democracy to a landslide victory in 1990 elections, a result never recognised by the regime.

But the new constitution would bar Aung San Suu Kyi from future elections because of her marriage to a foreigner, the late Briton Michael Aris. The junta already refused to amend the charter in talks with UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.

Thailand is one of the biggest investors and trading partners in Burma, spending billions of dollars a year to tap into the country's natural gas and hydropower resources to power its own growing economy.

The Prime Minister is expected to discuss two major energy projects between Burma and Thailand during the visit, government spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat said.