US ‘thoroughly disappointed’: Kurt Campbell

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESS

The US official leading dialogue with Burma said Thursday he was thoroughly disappointed with the results but that engagement was the best option as the country prepares for controversial elections.


“I think it would be fair to say in almost every arena, we have been disappointed,” said Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs.

“Everything we’ve seen to date suggests that the November elections will be without international legitimacy,” Campbell told a forum at the US Institute of Peace.


President Barack Obama’s administration last year entered dialogue with Burma after concluding that the longstanding policy of isolating the military regime had not borne fruit.

Campbell said that US priorities included persuading the junta to free political prisoners including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and to seek clarity on reports of nuclear cooperation with North Korea.

But the military regime is going ahead with a 7th of November election, ahead of which it officially abolished Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

The election is the first since 1990 polls, which the National League for Democracy swept. The opposition party was never allowed to take power and Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, is under house arrest.

But Campbell supported dialogue with the junta, calling it “among all the difficult options, the best way forward.”

“The period after the election might create new players, new power relationships, new structures inside the country, so we think we need to stand by and see how that plays out,” Campbell said.

Campbell said that the United States was ready with “a combination of some pressure, and also some rewards,” in return for progress by Burma.
“We are prepared to act in both cases given developments on the ground,” Campbell said.

The United States has maintained sweeping sanctions on Burma but says it is willing to ease them eventually in return for progress.

Tags: aung san suu kyi, engagement, kurt campbell, NLD, obama, US