Rice Urges United Nations Special Envoy to Return to Myanmar

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a press briefing on Sunday on board an airplane flying to Israel. A reporter asked her about Myanmar (calling it by its previous name, Burma), and Rice (also using the name Burma) said that the State Department is encouraging Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nation's Special Envoy, to return to Burma as soon as possible.

Rice said that the arrests "that apparently happened overnight clearly demonstrate that there needs to be an international presence on the ground."

She was asked if she thought a short-term solution was possible, or if she thought a long-term regime change was necessary. She replied, "our view is that they need to move, that the time for moving to some kind of process for reconciliation with the democratically elected Burmese opposition, that that time is well behind us. Look, it should have happened a long, long time ago. And so every day that passes is too long." This reply, while stressing the commitment of the United States to support Burma's pro-democracy movement, appears to dodge the question of whether the United States would do anything to bring about the overthrow of the military government.

Rice was then asked if she thought the Chinese were becoming less resistant to aggressive Security Council action. She replied, "we've been urging China, India, others who have influence, to recognize what a serious situation this is and to act. I can't say that there's a softening per se, but I did think that the fact that the presidential statement didn't draw much opposition was a good thing." The presidential statement she was referring to is that made by the President of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.

Rice continued, "I think it's a good thing that Gambari has been supported in going back and that apparently entreaties have been made with the Burmese to give him full access. I consider those all good signs." Rice was referring to the Special Envoy's return trip to the Myanmar region announced on Thursday.

She concluded, "But there's a lot more to do, and every time the Burmese do something like they've just done, I think it puts more pressure on those that have influence with them to be more active and more insistent that the Burmese junta act in a responsible way, if responsible can be used in that term."

Sources

Briefing En Route Tel Aviv, Israel, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Department of State, October 14, 2007

See also:

May Monten, United Nations Security Council Speaks Out Against Violence in Myanmar, Associated Content, October 12, 2007

May Monten, The United Nations is Sending its Adviser Back to the Myanmar Region, Associated Content, October 11, 2007