UN Offers Development Aid in Exchange for Political Prisoners

By WAI MOE

The United Nations has offered the Burmese military government a financial incentive to release the more than 2,000 political prisoners who languish in Burmese jails and initiate democratic change in the country, according to a Washington Post report on Sunday.

Regarded by many as the leading political broadsheet in the US, the Washington Post said that the UN is “trying to entice” the Burmese generals who rule the country “with fresh promises of development money.”

According to the report, UN Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari presented the outline of his strategy in a confidential paper to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month.

In the paper, Gambari reportedly endorses building on the relations Burma established with the international community after the Cyclone Nargis disaster in May, as well as urging an increase in development assistance to Burma and recommending that wealthy countries allow Burma access to foreign investment.

“In the months ahead, the UN leadership will press the Obama administration to relax the US [sanctions] policy on Burma and to open the door to a return of international financial institutions, including the World Bank,” The Post said.

The report noted that the US and Britain have always resisted offering the Burmese regime financial perks, arguing that the junta should not be rewarded for bad behavior.

However, this would not be the first time that financial carrots have been offered to the Burmese junta in exchange for political development in the country.

In 1998, the UN and the World Bank offered the ruling military regime US $1 billion in financial and humanitarian aid in exchange for opening a dialogue with the opposition.

And in 2000, the UN offered the generals $1 billion again, this time to hand over control of the government to the UN.

Both times the junta turned down the offers, condemning them in state media as “bananas for monkeys.”

According to the Washington Post report, the UN had also opened discussions with Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands and Norway to find a way of preventing misuse of development assistance and ensuring that aid gets into the hands of the neediest Burmese.

Although economically one of the world’s poorest nations, military-ruled Burma last year exported some $2.7 billion in natural gas to Thailand. The junta also recently signed a 30-year deal to supply natural gas to China, which will build oil and gas pipelines from Burma’s Kyauk Pyu Port on the Bay of Bengal to its southwest Yunnan Province. The pipeline deal is reportedly worth $2.5 billion to the junta. Nevertheless, the Economist Intelligence Unit estimated Burma’s gross fixed investment to be no more than $10 billion this year.

Top UN officials, including Gambari, have urged China and India to lean on the Burmese military regime to release political prisoners and to provide a political opening for the opposition in the 2010 elections, The Post said.

The Washington Post also said that if the junta acts on Gambari’s new initiative positively, Ban Ki-moon would visit Burma again.

However, Gambari has also stated that he himself would not return to Burma until there were signs of political progress in the country.

He said that before returning to Burma there would have to be concrete results, such as the release of political prisoners and moves toward holding the 2010 elections in a free and fair manner.

According to diplomatic sources, Gambari has been criticized by Western countries for his ineffectiveness in Burma. Recently, Burma’s representative to the UN, Kyaw Tint Swe—writing in a confidential report that was leaked by the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs—said that some Western countries have attempted to replace Gambari with someone who is “influenced by the West.”

But Gambari is still secure in his job, with support from Russia and Asian countries, Kyaw Tint Swe said.

There was no immediate response from the Burmese regime to the reported UN offer. However, Burmese state media constantly reprints messages urging Burmese citizens to “oppose foreign nationals interfering in the internal affairs of the State.”