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The people need the world to speak as one in its support

This article is more than 16 years old
Khin Maung Win

The UN's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, has arrived in Burma. It is not his first visit, but it needs to be more successful than the previous ones. It must result in a dialogue involving the junta, the opposition democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and other ethnic leaders. Such talks are the key.

If parts of the international community feel powerless, they shouldn't. All that the people of Burma are asking of them is to speak with one voice. If this junta has survived for the past 19 years maltreating its people, it is partly because it has exploited international divisions.

The junta joined the Association of South-East Asia Nations (Asean) a decade ago and sheltered behind the group under the banner of a 'non-interference policy'. But now some members - the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia - have expressed disapproval. Others, however, like Laos and Vietnam, are still backing it.

Japan is the biggest aid donor to Burma. It has never thrown its weight behind the opposition democracy movement, but that may change in the wake of the murder on Thursday of a Japanese photographer.

Australia, which provided human rights training to the junta's bureaucrats, has come to realise that it has simply been exploited. But it still rejects the sanctions against Burma proposed by the US and Europe. Indian policy towards the junta during Rajiv Gandhi's government in the late 1980s turned 180 degrees once nationalist parties took over, due to fears of the junta's absolute obedience to China, and the situation is the same today with the current Indian government cowed by the regime. India considers it more important to block China's strategic control of the Andaman Sea than to support Burma's struggle for democracy.

The junta depends on China for most of its military and political support. But there are indications that Beijing - with next year's Olympic Games in mind - has been sending signals to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) that it must try to reduce international criticism. Russia has no such qualms. There is evidence that it is helping the junta to realise its nuclear ambitions. Russian involvement in Burma is worrying.

The EU's members may be beginning to pull in the right direction. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has expressed support for the democracy movement and it has been heartwarming to hear Gordon Brown condemn the violent response to the demonstrations. For 19 years, the US has been opposed to the junta. Some believe the decision to move the capital from Rangoon was motivated by the regime's fear of US invasion.

Gambari has been urging the various international players to adopt a common position. Having witnessed the bravery and self-sacrifice of the Burmese people, these players should surely now wish to support the UN envoy's efforts, and speak as one.

We want to hear from China, Russia and India. It is they who can determine whether Burma moves to democracy or remains under military dictatorship for another 20 years.

· Khin Maung Win is deputy director of the Democratic Voice of Burma, which broadcasts from Oslo, Norway.

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