| U.S. Campaign for Burma,
Action Alert
Contact: jeremy@uscampaignforburma.org, aungdin@uscampaignforburma.org September 23rd, 2003 1) Action Call: Call Your Senators Offices Today! 2) How to Contact your Senate Office 3) List of Senators Who Have Signed the Letter So Far 4) Text of Letter Dear Friends of Burma, As you know, at the end of July, President Bush signed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 after it passed the Senate by a vote of 97-1 and the House by a vote of 418-2. Now, President Bush is headed to Bangkok, Thailand for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, from October 12-14th. Since he will be right next door to Burma, it is the perfect time for him to reiterate the demands in the Act: to call for the immediate release of all political prisoners in Burma and to demand the end to dictatorship in Burma. At the same time, the United States is preparing to assume the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for one month in October. The United States should use this opportunity to publicly raise Burma and press for mulitlateral pressure through a Security Council resolution. Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Feinstein are asking their fellow members of the Senate to sign a letter to President Bush urging him to both speak strongly while in Asia and press for action at the UN Security Council. Please ask your Senators to sign this letter! After you talk to your Senate office, be sure to send an email
to Aung Din ==================== 2) How to Contact Your Senate Offices To contact your Senate Office, go to www.house.gov or www.senate.gov. When you find your Senator or House members, give them a call, and ask the receptionist if youcan speak to the legislative assistant that handles foreign affairs. If they are busy, they will often have you speak to a legislative correspondent or other staff member instead, which is just fine. ===================== 3) List of Senators who have signed so far: Mitch McConnell (R-KY) ===================== 4) Text of Letter On Majority Whip Letterhead The Honorable George W. Bush Dear President Bush, Many of us have written you before concerning United States-Thailand relations and Thailand-Burma relations. America's relationship with Thailand is important to our security and to the success of the global war on terrorism, as evidenced by the recent arrest in that country of Riduan Isamuddin (Hambali). At the same time, the United States has long relied on Thailand to be a force for stability and democratic development with its region. We are concerned that Thailand has not played that role as constructively as it should in recent months, particularly in its approach to Burma. We thank you for raising the issue of Burma with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra when he was in Washington on June 11th. We urge you to do the same, both privately and publicly, when you travel to Bangkok to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, in your meetings with regional leaders as well as with Prime Minister Thaksin. In particular, we urge you to press Prime Minister Thaksin to work within ASEAN for genuine national reconciliation in Burma, rather than pursuing an independent path that stresses bilateral economic engagement with the military regime. We urge you to publicly address the Burmese people and inform the military regime that they must immediately allow democratic rule. We also encourage Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleeza Rice, to use meetings and public addresses with their counterparts in both Thailand and the Philippines to advance these goals, as outlined in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003. The Act, which sanctioned the ruling military regime, provided you a strong mandate to mobilize international support for Burma's democracy movement. In addition to economic sanctions, the Act encourages the Secretary of State to highlight the abysmal record of the SPDC to the international community and use all appropriate fora to encourage other nations to restrict financial support for the regime while supporting Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy. There has already been some progress in the region. Following the Clearly rattled by the pressure, Burma's regime has responded by reshuffling its leadership and reviving a "roadmap" that is little more than a political ploy to maintain its grip on power. If the regime truly wants progress, it should immediately release Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners. Meanwhile, Burma is becoming a serious threat to regional security.
Its refusal to confront a national HIV/AIDS crisis is devastating
to the health systems of neighboring countries. Heroin and methamphetamines,
trafficked from Burma by drug lords tolerated and in some cases
allied with the Burmese military, have created an epidemic of addiction
and violent crime in the region. The regime has forcibly recruited
an astounding 70,000 child soldiers, far more than any other country
in the world, while saddling its neighbors with millions of fleeing
refugees. Burning down villages, the The Thai Government should continue its policy of maintaining safe haven, and protection, for Burmese activists who flee to Thailand due a well founded fear of persecution by the military regime. We strongly urge you to use Ambassador Negroponte's position as president of the United Nations Security Council in October to highlight these regional security issues and to press for a Security Council resolution on Burma, as recommended by the Council on Foreign Relations. (Signed) Mitch McConnnell Dianne Feinstein |
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