Security Council Presidential Statement on Burma ‘Not Easy’

By LALIT K JHA
The Irrawaddy News

The French Ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said Wednesday that France, Britain and the US would continue to work toward achieving a Security Council presidential statement on Burma, despite objections by the other two permanent members, Russia and China.

“We are working on it. [But] it is not easy,” Ripert told reporters outside the UN headquarters in New York. “There are some differences of views among member states in the Security Council.”

The US, France and Britain earlier this week circulated a draft of the proposed Security Council presidential statement on Burma calling for a transition from military to democratic rule and urging the military junta to make its upcoming referendum on the draft constitution participative and inclusive.

China and Russia, the two other permanent members with Security Council veto powers, have opposed these two sections of the draft presidential statement. During its only meeting on the issue, officials of China and Russia are believed to have rejected the draft outrightly, prompting the French ambassador to comment.

“We still—France with a lot of other colleagues—think that we need to send a signal to the Burmese authorities that we have noticed a commitment and their declarations in principle favouring free and fair elections, a referendum and a stepping down of the military that would give the power back to civilian institutions,” said Ripert.

“We want to trust [the Burmese junta],” he added. “We want to take them by their words. We would like to send a signal by saying: OK, there are conditions which should be fulfilled so that the result of this process and of the elections can be validated by the international community.”

Observing that this was a very useful dialogue between the international community and the Burmese authorities, Ripert said this was exactly what they were requesting: less pressure and more dialogue.

“We want to engage this dialogue. We think that a new [presidential statement] could be part of this dialogue,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Security Council president for April, the South African ambassador, Dumisani Kumalo, refused to give a timeframe when the presidential statement could be ready.

Shielding behind the high technicalities and bureaucratic structure of the Security Council, Kumalo said the draft has not been tabled yet. Under the UN Security Council a draft is first discussed at an unofficial level and is tabled only when all members agree on it. While the expert committee level discussions on presidential statements very often takes days, the official transaction of business often takes a few minutes; as everything is discussed and agreed upon before it is officially tabled.

“I do not know; they have not circulated the statement on Myanmar [Burma] yet. I understand that it is the US which is still consulting on it, but they have not circulated it yet,” Kumalo said.

Meanwhile, US President George W Bush on Wednesday expressed his deep disappointment over the progress made by the military junta towards restoration of democracy in Burma.

“I am disappointed with the progress made to date there,” Bush told reporters at a joint press conference with visiting Singaporean Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong at the White House.

The statement came within hours of the Burmese military junta announcing that the referendum on the draft constitution would be held on May 10. Bush, however, made no direct reference to this announcement.

Both leaders discussed the current situation in Burma and the way forward during their meeting. “We spent time on Burma and the need for the military regime there to understand that they shouldn't fear the voices of the people,” said the US president.

Bush urged the military leadership to open up and respond to the will of the people.

Goh Chok Tong told President Bush that the military junta, though a problem in itself, needs to be taken into account on any solution for this troublesome country.

“I told the President that while the army is the problem, the army has to be part of the solution,” Goh said. “Without the army playing a part in solving problems in Myanmar [Burma], there will be no solution.”