[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 22601]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           STATEMENT ON BURMA

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, many of us who closely follow the 
struggle for freedom in Burma have, over the years, repeatedly called 
upon the U.N. Security Council to discuss and debate the dire situation 
in that country that poses an immediate danger to the Burmese people 
and the entire region.
  Our collective efforts may finally be gaining steam thanks to a 
report commissioned by former Czech President Vaclav Havel and retired 
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu that in painstaking detail makes 
the case that the situation in Burma has the same factors that 
triggered Security Council consideration of tragedies in Rwanda, Haiti, 
Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Liberia, and Yemen.
  I encourge my colleagues to read last Friday's Washington Post 
editorial entitled ``A Plan to Free Burma,'' which highlights the 
Havel-Tutu report and the need for U.N. action on Burma. While I agree 
that the administration can and should do more to support a Burma 
initiative at the United Nations, I am confident that as a stalwart 
friend of freedom, Ambassador Bolton will make this a priority for 
himself and his staff. I encourage Secretary Rice to continue to make 
this effort a priority, as well.
  Let me close with a brief word urging the United Kingdom to find its 
voice on Burma at the United Nations. Given Britain's history with that 
Southeast Asian country, Prime Minister Blair and senior officials at 
the Foreign Office should keep in mind that Burma's myriad problems--
including humanitarian crises--are political in nature and require a 
political solution that involves the active participation of the 
National League for Democracy and ethnic minorities. Let us not forget 
that this is a country where the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, 
Tuberculosis and Malaria had to terminate its grants because of the 
obstructionist policies of the SDPC.
  I am reminded that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Burma 
Campaign of World War II, the longest British battle of that war. I 
hope our allies across the Atlantic will continue to show the same grit 
and determination in supporting freedom in Burma today as they did last 
century.

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