The shame of the international community
Image source: www.idea.int
The images on BBC News this last week of the Karen people fleeing from Burmese government troops left me feeling sick in the pit of my stomach. On a slightly brighter note, the meeting between UN Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, the Under Secretary General for Political Affairs and Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday presents us with some faint optimism that something will be done soon. Ibrahim is the first foreigner to be allowed to visit Suu Kyi since 2004. As The Independent reports today, the generals who crushed Suu Kyi’s democracy movement will decide later this week whether to extend her house arrest beyond its present term, which expires on Saturday. It will be on this day, 16 years ago, that she won an overwhelming election victory. The Burmese military junta have refused to recognise this and instead Suu Kyi has spent 10 of the past 17 years imprisoned. I wonder if that great freedom fighter and defender of liberty, George Dubya, even knows where Burma is on the map? If you are not confident that he and his ‘coalition of the willing’ buddies are, please consider joining The Global Campaign to Free Aung San Suu Kyi.
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