Canada joins international indignation at continued imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi

World Leaders Outraged....

"Canada has repeatedly called on the regime to release Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners, respect the human rights of the people of Burma, and engage in a genuine dialogue with the democratic movement," said Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson in a statement issued late Wednesday, noting Canada conferred honorary citizenship on her last October.

Other countries are also expressing displeasure:

"Given the terrible human tragedy that has unfolded in Burma, the Australian government has recently tempered its remarks so far as the Burmese military regime has been concerned," said Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, using another name for Myanmar. "But this particular matter cannot go without comment."

Smith expressed "regret" over Suu Kyi's extended detention.

In Washington, President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled" by the detention order, but stressed the United States would continue to provide cyclone aid. He called on the regime to free all political prisoners and begin genuine dialogue with Suu Kyi that would lead to a transition to democracy.

I've recently been reading James Orbinski's An Imperfect Offering, and it occurs to me how related are the 1999 NATO "Humanitarian War" in Kosovo and the current, unspoken, "aid for compliance" game that's occurring between the international community and Burma's Junta right at the moment. Ethically - can we demand compliance with political goals in exchange for aid? Does that compromise our independence, and muddy the already murky ethical waters around providing humanitarian aid to a government that consistently redirects, taxes, or outright steals assistance meant for some of the poorest people in Asia?

In 1999, MSF spoke out vociferously, and refused to take sides in the NATO bombing campaign against Serbia as it systematically eliminated Kosovo of it's 90% ethinic Albanian Muslim majority. They served and treated sick people on both sides of the conflict, as always, believing that it can not allow its aid to become related to the military action given out by NATO.

In Burma today, the Junta have extended Suu Kyi's house arrest even further, prompting complaints from the international community who had at least an unwritten, if not overt, expectation that the generosity of global partners would influence the junta to treat Suu Kyi fairly. The flaws in this logic are vast, however it underscores the idea that aid quite simply can not be related to politics, no matter how noble the issue. Suu Kyi deserves to be let out - and her people deserve her to be positioned as the rightfully elected leader - however tying aid to her release implies a sort of "dog-and-pony-show" framework for aid which can only be manipulated by Burma much as it was manipulated by DRC and Rwandan government forces in the Great Lakes disaster, in the years after the 1994 Rwandan Genocide (also from Orbinski's book).

International Community:
Say what you mean, and say what you want and expect from the rogue Junta government. Don't dress it up with aid as "bribes." Don't pave the way for the junta to take aid as a bribe for good behaviour. Burma's junta signed two legally binding human rights treaties - enforce them. Act on them. Serve the people, but hold the leaders accountable. Don't expect that your goodwill will result in a humanitarian act from an inhuman government.