Aug 19, 2010
War crimes probe for Myanmar
WASHINGTON - CRITICS of Myanmar are voicing hope for intensified global pressure on the military regime after the United States signalled it would support a UN inquiry into alleged war crimes.
President Barack Obama's administration last year opened a new policy of engagement with Myanmar, also known as Burma, concluding that longstanding Western efforts to isolate the junta had failed to bear fruit.
But the administration has voiced growing dismay over the junta, which has faced allegations it is pursuing nuclear weapons and has stepped up efforts to marginalize democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi ahead of rare elections.
An administration official said the United States has opened discussions on how to set up a war crimes probe, a longstanding demand of activists as it could lead to the eventual indictment of junta leaders.
The US Campaign for Burma, led by exiled activists, said that Australia, Britain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have also supported an inquiry. It pledged to shift attention to persuading the European Union as a whole and Canada to offer support.
China, the main commercial and political partner of Myanmar, wields veto power on the UN Security Council, meaning any effort to establish an inquiry would likely come instead at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. -- AFP
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