Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS1234
2008-08-11 09:50:00
CONFIDENTIAL
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

BURMA: SOLANA DISCUSSES BURMA WITH TIMOR-LESTE

Tags:  PGOV ETRD PREL ETTC KINR EUN TM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
RUEHNY/AMEMBASSY OSLO
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RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001234 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/AA, EAP/MLS LAURA SCHEIBE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2018
TAGS: PGOV ETRD PREL ETTC KINR EUN TM
SUBJECT: BURMA: SOLANA DISCUSSES BURMA WITH TIMOR-LESTE
PRESIDENT RAMOS-HORTA

REF: A. STATE 83719

B. USEU BRUSSELS 1233

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Christopher Davis for reaso
ns 1.4 (b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001234

SIPDIS

STATE FOR INR/AA, EAP/MLS LAURA SCHEIBE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2018
TAGS: PGOV ETRD PREL ETTC KINR EUN TM
SUBJECT: BURMA: SOLANA DISCUSSES BURMA WITH TIMOR-LESTE
PRESIDENT RAMOS-HORTA

REF: A. STATE 83719

B. USEU BRUSSELS 1233

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Christopher Davis for reaso
ns 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) While delivering demarche on the JADE act legislation
(ref A),Leo Schulte-Nordholt, South-East Asia Desk Officer
at the EU Council Secretariat, briefed us on the July 22
visit to Brussels of the president of Timor-Leste, Jos
Ramos-Horta.
Shulte-Nordholt participated in a breakfast with HiRep Javier
Solana and Ramos-Horta which focused on the situation in
Burma.
In his first trip since the assassination attempt five months
ago, the Timorese President expressed strong personal
convictions about the inefficacy of sanctions and called them
counterproductive. Ramos-Horta revealed to Solana that he
had spent much of the 1980s in Burma illegally, working with
guerrilla groups. He said that when he arrived in Burma for
a recent state visit, a Burmese General who was aware of his
history with the guerillas welcomed him at the airport by
noting that this was his first "official" visit to the
country. Ramos-Horta argued that the regime will remain
stable as long as the world continues to isolate Burma, and
compared the current situation to that of South Africa during
apartheid. He claimed that it was internal processes - not
sanctions - that ultimately brought about a change in
government in South Africa. He also stressed the complexity
of the situation due to the presence of multiple insurgent
movements but opined that neither the generals nor the
insurgents could stand without the other. Though "personally
opposed to sanctions," Solana pointed out that sanctions may
not be perfect but that they make a statement.


2. (C) Solana asked how a transition to democracy in Burma
might work. Ramos-Horta suggested Indonesia as an emerging
key player in the process of democratization in South-East
Asia and as a potential partner in a Burmese transition. He
said that Indonesian President Yudhoyono recently told him
that he was eager for Jakarta to re-assert its historical
central role in South-East Asian diplomacy. He also advised
that the EU use the example and lessons of South Africa as a
model for a transition to democracy in Burma.

SILVERBERG
.