Ban Ki-moon's visit to Burma

Ban Ki-moon's visit to Burma (03/07/2009)

LOCATION BBC World News
SPEAKER Ivan Lewis
DATE 03/07/2009
Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis spoke to BBC World News about the visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's visit to Burma, 3 July 2009.
Read the transcript
Jonathan Charles (JC): Ban Ki-moon’s trip to Burma is just part of the growing international pressure on Burma attempting to achieve the release of pro democracy leader Aung San Su Kyi. Many Governments are also trying to exert leverage.

I’ve been speaking to the British Foreign Office Minister responsible for Burma, Ivan Lewis. Does he think that Mr Ban’s visit can achieve anything?

Ivan Lewis (IL): Well we strongly support his mission. We want to see the immediate release of Aung San Su Kyi, the other two thousand one hundred political prisoners. And we want him to send a strong message from the international community that the human rights abuses, particularly of minorities in Burma need to come to an end and we want to see a road map to reform in time for the 2010 elections. So he has our full support and he will be delivering tough messages.

JC: Well he himself has described it as a very tough mission that he’s on.

IL: It is a tough mission. We believe in the man, we believe in his office and we believe if ever there was a test of the United Nations relevance Burma is that test. That’s why we’ve been strongly supportive of the mission, that’s why we believe he’s doing absolutely the right thing and it’s also why our Prime Minister for example only recently spoke directly to the President of China because it’s very important that Burma’s friends and neighbours also send a clear and strong message about the abuse, human rights abuses, and also about political prisoners.

JC: I suppose the trouble is that the Burmese ruling military junta has not in the past proved very susceptible to international pressure and there has been a lot of pressure on them.

IL: Well the message via the Secretary General from the international community is that Burma has a choice. That choice is to continue contravening human rights, to continue imprisoning political prisoners, or to come in to the main stream, to be part of the international community. And in a sense this mission by the Secretary General is a crucial pivotal moment in the choices that Burma has to make.

JC: The generals know there’s a bit of a danger for them though and that is that if they release Aung San Su Kyi she becomes a beacon against them and possibly they could be swept from power.

IL: Maybe, but that’s the consequences of democracy and if they’re serious about free and fair elections in 2010 to imprison the leading opposition leader is completely contrary to any notion of free and fair elections. So you can’t have this double speak, trumped up charges, a bogus trial that Aung San Su Kyi now faces, that needs to be brought to an end. She needs to be released immediately, but so do the other two thousand one hundred political prisoners.

JC: Well I suppose opposition people would say they’re not really serious about the 2010 elections. Do you think there’s any reason at all to be optimistic about change in Burma?

IL: My generation saw the Berlin wall come down, Nelson Mandela become President of South Africa, peace in Northern Ireland, a black American elected as President of the United States. So yes, I believe the job of Governments around the world in these difficult conflicts, challenges, circumstances, is always to go for optimism and hope over despair. But in the end this will be about the choices that the Burmese regime make.