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Vi proponiamo parte di una lunga intervista all’inviato speciale dell’UE per la Birmania, Piero Fassino, pubblicato da AKI ADNKRONOS INTERNATIONAL

Autori: Roberto Tofani/Josephine Mckenna

Thousands of people - many of them Buddhist monks - took to the streets of Burma in September to call for democratic reform - in the greatest challenge to the military junta in 20 years.

The international community must continue to press for the liberation of Burma’s opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and her participation in the country’s political reform, according to the European Union’s special envoy, Piero Fassino. Fassino, a former Italian justice minister , was appointed by the EU to focus attention on Burma (also known as Myanmar) and support the efforts of UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, in seeking reforms. “The international community must insist on Aung San Suu Kyi being freed, so that there is an agenda for dialogue and they can identify the form in which a new constitution can be written by all the parties, and not by only one party,” Fassino told Adnkronos International (AKI). Fassino spoke to AKI after the United Nations revealed on Friday at least 31 people died and another 74 were missing after a brutal crackdown against political opposition in Burma in September. Burma’s ruling junta says the number is much lower. His comments came as United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said the world was “running out” of patience with the Burmese government and the current situation was “politically unsustainable”. Speaking at a media conference in Bangkok on Monday, Ban also called for Suu Kyi to be able to play a role in political reform. “The people of Myanmar have suffered from isolation for such a long time and it’s high time now that the Myanmar authorities and the people.. enjoy democracy and freedom,”said Ban.

Thousands of people - many of them Buddhist monks - protested on the streets of Rangoon and other cities for several days in late September calling for democratic reform. It was the biggest challenge to the regime in twenty years. “Those protests provoked a huge emotional response in international public opinion,” Fassino told AKI. “Today there is real concern from the international community, from governments, multilateral institutions, from the countries of the world close to what happened in Burma.” Fassino said the European Union will make a contribution but other countries also had a fundamental role to play like China, India - the biggest democracy in the world - as well as Japan and the countries of ASEAN, the Association of South-East Asian Nations. He said the Burmese crisis was “difficult, complicated and called for determination and great patience”. While acknowledging the junta for freeing many of those who had been arrested during the protests and for allowing Suu Kyi to meet the leaders of her party, after many years of isolation, he said dialogue would be impossible if one of the main leaders remained imprisoned or restrained. Suu Kyi is the general secretary of the National League for Democracy and the 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate. Her party won in a landslide in the last free election held in the country in 1990 but the ruling military refused to recognise the result.The military junta has held her in detention for 12 of the last 18 years. Fassino said Suu Kyi and other political prisoners - estimated to be more than a thousand by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners - must now be freed.

Regarding sanctions, Fassino said they were an instrument of pressure adopted by the US and the EU. He said they were not designed to punish the Burmese people but part of a strategy. He said it was necessary for the EU and the entire international community to give humanitarian aide to the Burmese people for crucial needs such as health and education. “I don’t believe sanctions are uselss if they are accompanied by intense dialogue and political persuasion,” he said. Fassino, the former head of Italy’s Democrats of the Left (DS) political party, is now working to establish links with foreign countries to create a united strategy. He has met Gambari and the foreign ministers of several countries including Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.