New York, Sep 27 (DPA) The US and the European Union (EU) have urged the UN Security Council to consider enacting sanctions against Myanmar for the violent crackdown against Buddhist monks.
“We are deeply troubled by reports that security forces have fired on and attacked peaceful demonstrators and arrested many Buddhist monks and others,” the US and EU said in a joint statement Wednesday.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met top EU officials, including Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external affairs chief, in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“We condemn all violence against peaceful demonstrators and remind the country’s leaders of their personal responsibility for their actions,” the statement said.
US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said discussions were already underway regarding possible Security Council sanctions. The US was seeking sanctions similar to the ones already enacted by Washington, which include travel bans and asset freezes on the regime officials, Casey said.
Bush announced at the UN headquarters Wednesday that the US planned to expand those sanctions.
Washington and Brussels called on the ruling Myanmar junta to halt the violence against the monks and begin dialogue with democratic activists, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for years and was transferred to jail since the unrest began.
The US and EU also urged China, India and other countries in the region to pressure Myanmar, and demanded the regime allow a special visit by Ibrahim Gambari, a UN special envoy for Myanmar.
Myanmar Wednesday unleashed troops in a swift, violent crackdown against the monks to keep thousands of them from entering the capital Yangon’s holiest sites and to oust protestors already in place. The clashes took at least five lives.