US Appoints Special Burma Envoy

By WAI MOE

Outgoing US President George W. Bush announced on Monday he will nominate Michael J. Green, a former White House Asia adviser, as a US special envoy to Burma.

“The president intends to nominate Michael J. Green of Maryland to be the United States special representative and policy coordinator for Burma with rank of ambassador,” according to a White House statement.

Since 1988, the US has lowered its official diplomatic ties with Burma. The highest US diplomat in Burma is chargé d’affaires, Larry M. Dinger, who took over on September 3 at the US Embassy in the junta-ruled country.

“The United States downgraded its level of representation in Burma from ambassador to charge d'affaires after the government's crackdown on the democratic opposition in 1988 and its failure to honor the results of the 1990 parliamentary election,” the US State Department Web site noted.

Appointing a US special envoy is a part of The Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act 2008, signed into law by President Bush on July 29. The Burmese JADE Act was approved in a bipartisan vote and supported by President-elect Barack Obama.

The act has three doctrines: to impose new financial sanctions and travel restrictions on the leaders of the junta and their associates; to tighten the economic sanctions imposed in 2003 by outlawing the importation of Burmese gems to the United States; and to create a new position of US “special representative and policy coordinator” for Burma.

Currently, Michael J. Green is also an associate professor at Georgetown University and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He is the author of significant policy articles on Burma and has a Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University.

In the past, he served as a special assistant to Bush and was a senior director for Asian affairs at the US National Security Council. Win Min, a Burmese analyst based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said that the appointment of a US special envoy to Burma is a positive step forward. “It is also outgoing President Bush’s last move for Burma,” he said.

There are two other special Burma envoys. Italian Piero Fassino serves as the European Union special envoy to Burma, and Nigerian diplomat Ibrahim Gambari is the United Nations special envoy to Burma.

Meanwhile, the Council of the European Union said on Monday that the EU is prepared to revise, amend or reinforce measures it has adopted to keep pace with Burma’s political issues.

“It is determined to help the people of Burma/Myanmar to achieve stability, prosperity and democracy and remains ready to react positively to real progress towards democracy,” the EU said in a press release.

The EU statement said the 2010 election will have no credibility unless all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are release unconditionally and the junta initiates an inclusive, long-term dialogue process with opposition and ethnic groups.