Topical Question: Burma
19th May 2009
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown calls for wider sanctions and a worldwide arms ban against the Burmese regime.
Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold) (Con): Following the totally unjustified actions by the Burmese authorities in moving Aung San Suu Kyi and five of her supporters to jail, and as the authorities in Burma spent more than 50 per cent. of their budget on arms and armed forces in order to suppress their own people and prop up their rotten Government, will the Foreign Secretary undertake a new initiative with the United Nations to see what further sanctions can be applied to Burma, including a worldwide arms ban?
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Bill Rammell): We have been at the forefront of the case for sanctions against the Burmese regime. We recently saw the rollover of EU sanctions. The recent actions have been reprehensible—the Prime Minister led the way internationally last week in condemning them—and the re-arrest last week suggests that the Burmese regime were intent on finding any pretext, no matter how tenuous, to extend Aung San Suu Kyi’s unlawful detention. While thousands of political prisoners are still locked up in jail, including Aung San Suu Kyi, there cannot be credible elections in Burma next year.