Burma easing refugee, assistance pressures: diplomat

"The minister of border affairs strongly believed there must be peace, and it can be achieved by fair treatment to ethnic minorities through development opportunities for them," said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response who visited Burma last week.

Commissioner Georgieva discussed the matter with Burma's Border Affairs Minister Lt-General Thein Htay in Naypyidaw on September 9. He assured her the repatriation of refugees, notably from neighbouring Thailand, must be done on a voluntary basis.

There was also a bilateral talk between Burma and Thailand on the possibility of Thai investment on the other side of border to create jobs for them, she said.

Thailand is now sheltering some 100,000 refugees from Burma and mapping out a plan to repatriate most them to Burma.

Thein Htay admitted he was not in a position to find a solution for many ethnic refugees or asylum seekers who might have a political agenda for their status and roles in society when they returned home, commissioner Georgieva said.

She urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other UN concerned agencies be brought in as part of the solution.

European ambassador to Thailand and Burma, David Lipman, said Thein Htay hoped to begin peace talks soon with the ethnic groups.

"He did say that the government is committed to peace and he hopes that within the next few months they will have serious negotiations to that end," said Lipman, who accompanied Georgieva.

However, the main purpose of the European commission to Burma was to secure faster and better access by humanitarian workers to all parts of the country affected by natural disaster and armed conflict.

Burma's previous treatment of international humanitarian workers raised outrage when the authority delayed assistance deliveries to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which killed 140,000 people in 2008.

Georgieva said she received the assurance from Burmese authorities with the improvement of obtaining visas for humanitarian workers and signing memorandums of understanding on their operations.

"We also discussed the issue of disaster management on how we, the EU, could help Burma in improving disaster management," she said.

There were some improvements in accessibility for humanitarian workers after the new government, she said. "It has become easier to work. One credible organisation there said something that used to take two months, now takes two weeks," she said.

Georgieva met in Rangoon with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who " gave some very good insight on how we could be more effective in addressing difficulties, like problem with minorities."

Aung San Suu Kyi shared some positive signs of recognition. For example, articles she published and interviews she had given on her work providing free schooling for kids in the country, Georgieva said.

"Burma is lucky to have her as a guarantor for better things ahead and as the face and voice of the vulnerable people," she said of the Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who was freed from a seven-year house detention term in November last year.