Britain pledges to do all it can for Burma

Mungpi & Solomon
Mizzima News
October 13, 2008

New Delhi - The British government has pledged it will do all it can to help usher in democracy in Burma. This was in response to an online petition submitted by campaigners in United Kingdom.

The British government's response to the petition, which is posted on the Prime Minister's website (www.number10.gov.uk/Page17117), said the political situation in Burma has continued to be a priority for the Government and the Prime Minister personally over the last 12 months. It pledged that it will do all it can to help the people of Burma.

"The Government will continue to do all it can to help the people of Burma achieve the peaceful, prosperous and democratic future they deserve," the response said.

The Government was responding to an online petition launched by the Burma Campaign UK in the wake of the brutal suppression of peaceful protesters in September 2007 by Burma's military rulers.

The response, posted on October 9, also extended the Government's concern over the Burmese peoples' plight, who not only endure continued oppression at the hands of the military regime, but also faced the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis, which lashed the country in May, killing tens of thousands and devastated more than 2.4 million lives.

The online petition signed by more than 5,000 people congratulated the British Government for continuously supporting the Burmese democracy movement but urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to personally engage world leaders on the issue of Burma and set a time frame and benchmarks for change.

"We call on the Prime Minister to set benchmarks and timelines for change in Burma, after which, if no progress has been made, steps will be taken to increase political and economic pressure on the regime," the petition said.
Meanwhile, a Burmese human rights activist, Zoya Phan, on Monday highlighted the sufferings of Burmese people under the repressive rule during her talk at the 12th annual Forum 2000 Conference being held in Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Zoya Phan, International Coordinator of the BCUK, who is attending the conference being held from October 12 to 14, said she was able to make a great number of people aware on the situation in Burma.

"A lot of people don't know about Burma, after my speech they came to me and asked about the country," Phan said.

Phan is on a lobbying trip to the Czech Republic and is one of the speakers at the conference which is being attended by senior politicians from all over the world, including former Presidents, Prime Ministers, and opposition leaders from Russia, Zimbabwe and other countries with terrible human rights records.

"Still most people in European countries don't know what is going on there [in Burma] and governments are still doing business with the regime, while they are not giving enough humanitarian assistance [to the Burmese people],"Mark Farmaner, Director of the BCUK said.

Zoya Phan is the daughter of the deceased Pado Mahn Shar La Phan, leader of ethnic Karen rebels, Karen National Union, and is currently residing in UK, where she is actively involved in campaigning and lobbying on the issue of Burma.