Burma Tops US Agenda at Upcoming UN General Assembly

By LALIT K JHA / UNITED NATIONS

The United States of America has made it clear that the current situation in Burma is among its top priorities during the annual General Assembly Session of the United Nations, which opened last week.

The 63rd session of the UN General Assembly formally began with Burma taking over as one of the 21 vice presidents of the annual session. More than 100 heads of governments and heads of states, besides a large number of world leaders, are scheduled to address the General Assembly beginning on Tuesday.

In the run up to the General Assembly Session, top United States officials said President George W Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when they meet world leaders, will make it a point to seek cooperation of the international community to help in the restoration of democracy in Burma and protection of human rights.

Bush will also take up the issue when he meets UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York.

"The president will meet with Secretary-General Ban to discuss the full range of challenges facing the United Nations, including U.N. reform, Georgia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Burma and Zimbabwe," National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told White House reporters.

Briefing reporters about US priorities during the General Assembly, the country's US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said: "We'll continue efforts to increase pressure on Burma, to make progress on the political track. There has been no progress on that."

Joining the US on this issue would be two other permanent members of the Security Council—Britain and France. The latter made it clear last week that it is not satisfied with the steps initiated by the secretary-general on Burma and wants more pressure on Burma.

However, the new General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, the former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister and a fierce critic of the US, is unlikely to take a strong interest on Burma as was the case with his predecessor, Srgjan Kerim, who regularly used to meet with Special UN Envoy on Burma Ibrahim Gambari for updates.

Brockmann has made it clear that he holds an anti-US agenda at the UN, which will make things difficult for the pro-Burmese democracy lobby at the UN.