Bush Announces Sanctions Against Burma

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 25, 2007; 12:40 PM

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 25 -- President Bush announced new sanctions against the military government of Burma Tuesday, figuratively joining hands with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets of Rangoon and challenging the United Nations to join him in a broader "mission of liberation."

Addressing the annual U.N. General Assembly, Bush called on the world body to do more to fight tyranny, disease, ignorance and poverty, and pointedly demanded that it reform its own institutions. He singled out for condemnation a familiar list of repressive nations, including Belarus, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Zimbabwe and Cuba, leaving unmentioned undemocratic nations that are allied with the United States.

The president used his speech here to focus particularly on Burma, where Buddhist monks and other demonstrators returned for an eighth day of peaceful protests against the junta that rules the Southeast Asian nation. Government troops, including an army division that helped put down a 1988 peaceful uprising by shooting into crowds and killing thousands, converged on the country's biggest city a day after the government warned the dissident monks to halt the protests and return to their monasteries.

"Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma, where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear," Bush told the U.N. assembly. "Basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship are severely restricted. Ethnic minorities are persecuted. Forced child labor, human trafficking and rape are common. The regime is holding more than 1,000 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party was elected overwhelmingly by the Burmese people in 1990."

Bush said he will tighten economic sanctions against government leaders and their financial backers and expand a U.S. visa ban on those deemed responsible for "the most egregious violations of human rights." He also called on other nations "to use their diplomatic and economic leverage to help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom."

Burma has occupied a prominent spot on the White House radar screen since first lady Laura Bush became personally upset about the situation in the country now called Myanmar by its leaders. In recent weeks, she called on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to urge more action on Burma and summoned reporters to condemn the government -- unusually public moves by the first lady.

But the United States long ago imposed tough trade and arms sanctions against Burma and has few diplomatic weapons left in its arsenal. Bush's announcement here was more a symbolic show of support for the demonstrators that might produce tangible results only if other nations follow suit -- particularly China, Burma's chief trading partner and regional ally.

In his speech, Bush made little mention of Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was sitting in the audience listening and was spotted at one point checking his watch. Ahmadinejad plans to address the assembly later in the day, part of a visit to New York that has stirred emotional protests and denunciations, including a combustible appearance on Monday at Columbia University where he jousted with the school's president over whether the Iranian is a dictator.

Bush mentioned Iran in a list of nations that repress their people but did not elaborate.

"Every civilized nation also has a responsibility to stand up for the people suffering under a dictatorship," he said. "In Belarus, North Korea, Syria and Iran, brutal regimes deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration" of Human Rights. He said "the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end" in Cuba, called Zimbabwe's behavior "an assault on its people" and condemned "repression" and "genocide" in Sudan.

But he said nothing about Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Egypt or other U.S. allies with autocratic governments, although the White House on Monday night released a written statement criticizing Cairo for trying to close a human rights group and sentencing newspaper editors to jail.

The president's speech, part of a three-day diplomatic mission here, drew several hundred protesters outside the U.N. building who expressed opposition to his Iraq war and terrorism detention policies. Some wore orange jumpsuits to demonstrate concern over prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, and about a dozen were arrested for civil disobedience, according to the Associated Press.

Bush also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and plans to participate in a round table on democracy and a Security Council meeting on Africa.

As he has in the past, the president confronted the United Nations, saying it must do more to live up to its own ideals.

"This great institution must work for great purposes: to free people from tyranny and violence, hunger and diseases, illiteracy and ignorance and poverty and despair," he said. "Every member of the United Nations must join in this mission of liberation."

He also offered blunt criticism of U.N. institutions. "The American people are disappointed by the failures of the Human Rights Council," he said. "This body has been silent on repression by regimes from Havana and Caracas to Pyongyang and Tehran, while focusing its criticism excessively on Israel. To be credible on human rights in the world, the United Nations must first reform its own Human Rights Council."

Bush also offered support for expanding the Security Council and giving Japan a permanent seat, along with the five nations that already have perpetual places on the panel: the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.

"Other nations should be considered as well," he said. "The United States will listen to all good ideas, and we will support changes to the Security Council as part of broader U.N. reform."

Bush Announces Sanctions Against Burma - washingtonpost.com

北朝鮮は残忍な体制と非難(共同通信)

【ニューヨーク２５日共同】ブッシュ米大統領は２５日、国連総会一般討論で演説し、北朝鮮、シリア、イランなどを「残忍な政治体制」と名指しで非難した。北朝鮮の核問題をめぐる６カ国協議が２７日から始まるのを前に北朝鮮側を刺激しそうだ。

　また、ミャンマーでの反軍事政権デモ拡大を受け、同国の民主運動勢力を支援する立場を明確にし、軍政に対する経済制裁強化を発表した。

@nifty:NEWS@nifty:北朝鮮は残忍な体制と非難(共同通信)

ヒル国務次官補、北朝鮮のテロ支援国指定解除は「今後の非核化進展次第」

【9月25日 AFP】北朝鮮の核問題をめぐる6か国協議の米首席代表、クリストファー・ヒル（Christopher Hill）国務次官補は25日、北朝鮮のテロ支援国指定解除は今後の同国の非核化の進展次第だと述べ、次回6か国協議の開催を前に同国に圧力をかけた。

　6か国協議は27日に中国・北京で再開される。成田空港に25日到着したヒル国務次官補は記者団に対し、協議再開の前日となる26日に北朝鮮代表の金桂寛（キム・ゲグァン、Kim Kye-Gwan）外務次官と会談することを明らかにした。

　一方、コンドリーザ・ライス（Condoleezza Rice）米国務長官は、北朝鮮による日本人拉致問題の全面解決を待たずに、北朝鮮のテロ支援国指定を解除する可能性を示唆したと報じられている。

　ヒル氏は「（北朝鮮のテロ支援国指定解除について）協議しているが、決定は下されていない。北朝鮮が切に望んでいるのは明らかだが、今後の非核化の進展次第だということはすでにはっきりさせてある」と語った。

　ヒル国務次官補は6か国協議再開を前に、日本代表の佐々江賢一郎（Kenichiro Sasae）外務省アジア大洋州局長と意見交換し、互いの立場を確認することを明らかにした。

　国務次官補が来日したこの日、北朝鮮に対する強硬路線を貫いていた安倍晋三（Shinzo Abe）前首相に代わり、穏健派の福田康夫（Yasuo Fukuda）自民党総裁が新首相に選出された。

　安倍前首相は米国に対し、1970-80年代に起きた北朝鮮による日本人拉致問題が解決するまで、北朝鮮のテロ支援国指定を解除しないよう要請していた。

　北朝鮮は今月上旬、ヒル国務次官補から、テロ支援国家指定解除の言質を得たと発表している。

　米国がテロ支援国家に指定した国は、米国による経済制裁のほか、世界銀行（World Bank）やアジア開発銀行（Asian Development Bank、ADB）などの国際機関からの融資も受けられなくなる。(c)AFP

ヒル国務次官補、北朝鮮のテロ支援国指定解除は「今後の非核化進展次第」 国際ニュース : AFPBB News