Call for Burma trade sanctions.

[082903@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

		Call for Burma trade sanctions
		******************************

	The European Parliament called yesterday for economic sanctions 
against Burma to protest against human rights violations in the 
South-East Asian country.

	Burmese opposition leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi had, in a 
videotaped message smuggled out of Burma and aired at the parliament, 
urged the sanctions as a means of putting pressure on the Burmese 
military leaders.

	In Rangoon, Ms Suu Kyi attended a sombre Martyrs Day ceremony, 
laying a wreath at the tomb of her father, independence hero Auns San, 
who was assassinated 49 years ago.

	Aung San, considered the architect of Burma's independence, was 
gunned down in 1947 with six of his colleagues on the instructions of a 
political rival when he was on the verge of setting up a post-colonial 
governemnt.

	In the video the Nobel Peace Prize laureate also appealed to 
tourists to stay away from Burma.

	In response, the parliament asked member States to "freeze all 
relations with Burma in the areas of trade, tourism and investments by 
European business".

	Danish brewer Carlsberg and the Dutch brewer Heineken have 
already broken off dealings with Burma.

	The European Parliament MPs also asked the European Commission to 
suspend preferential trade status for goods exported from Burma to 
ptotest against forced labour.

	The MPs said the sanctions should stay in place until the 
military regime stops violating human rights, lifts the ban on Ms Suu 
Kyi's National League for Democracy and commits itself to re-establishing 
democracy in Burma.

[AFP, 21 July 1996].

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