New US sanctions on Burma's companies

Asia-Pacific Friday, May 2, 2008

US President George W Bush says he has ordered a new round of sanctions on Burmese state companies to pressure the military leadership there over human rights abuses and to push for political change.

"Today I've issued a new executive order that instructs the Treasury Department to freeze the assets of Burmese state-owned companies that are major sources of funds that prop up the junta," Bush said on Thursday.


The sanctions were targeted at companies and industries that produce timber, pearls and gems. They mark Bush's latest effort to ratchet up pressure on Burma after its crackdown against pro-democracy protesters last September.

"Today I'm sending yet another clear message that we expect there to be change and we expect generals to honour the will of the people," Bush said.

The Treasury Department has already slapped sanctions on Burma's private companies and military leaders.

Burma's generals last held elections in 1990, but ignored the results when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has spent more than 12 of the past 18 years under some form of detention.

The current junta has scheduled a May 10 referendum as a key stage in a seven-step "roadmap to democracy" that should culminate in multi-party elections in 2010, as a replacement to the absolute power wielded by the army since a 1962 coup.

Human Rights Watch has said at least 20 people were killed in the crackdown on the protests last September, but Western governments say the toll may have been much higher.

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