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Human rights activists express concern at pace of re-engagement as military representatives meet in Rangoon
Burmese soldiers on
parade in Naypyidaw. US defence officials are meeting senior members of
the Burmese military. Photograph: David Longstreath/AP
More than 20 senior US defence officials have arrived in Burma
to meet senior government ministers and members of the military,
marking Washington's strongest overtures to the Burmese army in nearly a
quarter of a century.
Talks on a range of issues related to the Burmese military will take place as part of the first US-Burma Human Rights Dialogue, according to a US embassy spokeswoman in Rangoon, as well as "an exchange between US department of defence representatives and their Burmese counterparts as part of a broad inter-agency discussion to support continued reform".
The US delegation includes senior representatives from the White House national security staff team, defence department officials, members of the department of homeland security, Vikram Singh, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for south and south-east Asia, and Lt-Gen Francis Wiercinski, head of the US army's Pacific command.
The visit has prompted concern from human rights activists over the speed at which Washington is re-engaging with Burma. President Thein Sein has won praise for political reforms since taking office in March 2011, but the country's powerful military appears to be largely removed from the process. His calls for troops to stop offensives against ethnic minority groups in northern Burma have been ignored by military commanders on several occasions.
According to the latest UN figures, about 75,000 civilians in Kachin state have been displaced by fighting that erupted in June last year, when a 17-year ceasefire between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army broke down. Human Rights Watch has accused the army of burning homes, raping women and torturing and killing civilians during interrogation.
David Mathieson, the Burma researcher with Human Rights Watch, said opening lines of communication between the US and the Burmese military was a positive move. "That doesn't mean it should translate into active military co-operation," he said. "It would be too premature to admit Burmese officers into US military academies."
The exact nature of the discussions taking place this week is unclear. The US government says the dialogue will have a human rights focus, covering topics that include protection of civilian populations in conflict areas and reform within the military.
Pentagon spokesperson Major Catherine Wilkinson said in an email that official US policy regarding defence activities with Burma "remains one of disengagement, except in limited humanitarian and diplomatic instances". Similar remarks were made by the assistant secretary of state for human rights, Michael Posner, following talks last year in Naypyidaw with the Burmese army chief Min Aung Hlaing. Posner said after the meeting that military ties "will have to wait for much further down the line".
The Burmese are also to believed to have asked for help from Thailand in persuading Washington to allow it to join Cobra Gold, an annual joint training exercise between the US and regional militaries.
The US has requested Burmese permission to allow its troops into the country to search for the remains of hundreds of US soldiers shot down during the second world war.
Washington maintained military engagement with the Burmese army up until 1988, but that largely ceased following the former junta's bloody crackdown on student protesters. Some intelligence sharing and assistance with the junta however continued into the 1990s, focused mainly on anti-drug-trafficking operations.
Regional analysts believe efforts to improve relations between the US and Burma are part of an attempt by Washington to draw the country away from China.
Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic at the London School of Economics, said Burma "is an integral component of the US 'pivot to Asia'" and US attempts to re-engage Burma rest more on strategic needs than human rights.
Zarni said Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi's endorsement of new US policy towards Burma "gives the Americans the public relations cover they need to embrace the generals" despite ongoing persecution of ethnic minority groups.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/16/us-defence-officials-meet-burmese-counterparts
Talks on a range of issues related to the Burmese military will take place as part of the first US-Burma Human Rights Dialogue, according to a US embassy spokeswoman in Rangoon, as well as "an exchange between US department of defence representatives and their Burmese counterparts as part of a broad inter-agency discussion to support continued reform".
The US delegation includes senior representatives from the White House national security staff team, defence department officials, members of the department of homeland security, Vikram Singh, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for south and south-east Asia, and Lt-Gen Francis Wiercinski, head of the US army's Pacific command.
The visit has prompted concern from human rights activists over the speed at which Washington is re-engaging with Burma. President Thein Sein has won praise for political reforms since taking office in March 2011, but the country's powerful military appears to be largely removed from the process. His calls for troops to stop offensives against ethnic minority groups in northern Burma have been ignored by military commanders on several occasions.
According to the latest UN figures, about 75,000 civilians in Kachin state have been displaced by fighting that erupted in June last year, when a 17-year ceasefire between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army broke down. Human Rights Watch has accused the army of burning homes, raping women and torturing and killing civilians during interrogation.
David Mathieson, the Burma researcher with Human Rights Watch, said opening lines of communication between the US and the Burmese military was a positive move. "That doesn't mean it should translate into active military co-operation," he said. "It would be too premature to admit Burmese officers into US military academies."
The exact nature of the discussions taking place this week is unclear. The US government says the dialogue will have a human rights focus, covering topics that include protection of civilian populations in conflict areas and reform within the military.
Pentagon spokesperson Major Catherine Wilkinson said in an email that official US policy regarding defence activities with Burma "remains one of disengagement, except in limited humanitarian and diplomatic instances". Similar remarks were made by the assistant secretary of state for human rights, Michael Posner, following talks last year in Naypyidaw with the Burmese army chief Min Aung Hlaing. Posner said after the meeting that military ties "will have to wait for much further down the line".
The Burmese are also to believed to have asked for help from Thailand in persuading Washington to allow it to join Cobra Gold, an annual joint training exercise between the US and regional militaries.
The US has requested Burmese permission to allow its troops into the country to search for the remains of hundreds of US soldiers shot down during the second world war.
Washington maintained military engagement with the Burmese army up until 1988, but that largely ceased following the former junta's bloody crackdown on student protesters. Some intelligence sharing and assistance with the junta however continued into the 1990s, focused mainly on anti-drug-trafficking operations.
Regional analysts believe efforts to improve relations between the US and Burma are part of an attempt by Washington to draw the country away from China.
Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic at the London School of Economics, said Burma "is an integral component of the US 'pivot to Asia'" and US attempts to re-engage Burma rest more on strategic needs than human rights.
Zarni said Burmese opposition politician Aung San Suu Kyi's endorsement of new US policy towards Burma "gives the Americans the public relations cover they need to embrace the generals" despite ongoing persecution of ethnic minority groups.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/16/us-defence-officials-meet-burmese-counterparts
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