THE BURMESE JUNTA has repeatedly exposed the weakness of the international community. One organization in particular, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has had its reputation besmirched by its inability to bring pressure on a regime which has a record of brutal repression and which thwarted the results of a democratic election in 1990. Operating on a principle of “non-interference” in the affairs of its members, the ASEAN has been predictably ineffectual.
Now it is the United Nation’s turn to act. This week, the U.N. Security Council will receive a briefing from its undersecretary for Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari, about his recent trip to Burma. Whether there will be further action remains unclear. Gambari appears to be preparing the ground for a U.N. cave-in. Upon his return from Burma, he suggested that the junta which 16 years ago thwarted a democratic election and since then has plunged Burma into repression and ruin, appears ready to “turn a new page.” On Saturday, perhaps in preparation for this page-turning, the Burmese administration extended the house arrest confinement of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in and out of house arrest for 16 years–ever since the junta refused to recognize the overwhelming victory of her party and its allies in a democratic election.
