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EU Eases Sanctions Against Burmese Government

   VOA News  April 12, 2011

   The European Union has eased economic and political sanctions against
   civilian members of the new Burmese government, in a move it says is
   aimed at establishing communication links with Burmese lawmakers who
   won office in November elections.
   The Council of the European Union, meeting Tuesday in Luxembourg,
   endorsed the moves, which include the lifting of visa bans for one year
   on civilian lawmakers and the country's foreign minister. EU
   spokeswoman Mary Brazier described the visa easement as a means of
   assuring access to senior government officials and opposition figures.
   The council action also lifts a broad asset freeze slapped on the
   former military junta because of long-standing human rights violations
   against an array of opposition figures, including Nobel laureate Aung
   San Suu Kyi, who spent much of the past decade under house arrest in
   Rangoon.
   The EU move was spawned in part by a report last month from a leading
   research organization, the International Crisis Group, which said
   sanctions imposed on Burma's government and renewed yearly for much of
   the past decade have not worked and should be ended.
   The March 7 report said those sanctions have had a "negative impact" on
   the population they were designed to protect.
   For their part, U.S. officials and key members of Aung San Suu Kyi's
   National League for Democracy party have to date offered limited
   support for the EU sanctions easement. Those officials say such action
   should only be taken after the new, nominally civilian Burmese
   government begins releasing some 2,200 opposition figures and their
   supporters currently languishing in Burmese prisons.

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