COSTA RICA SUPPORTS UNSC ACTION ON BURMA BUT WARY

1. (U) We delivered reftel demarche on May 12 to Adriana
Murillo, Juan Salas and Deyanira Ramirez of the MFA's UN
Security Council Team. The team was very happy to receive the
text of the French resolution; they stated that Costa Rica
had been asked to support it in New York but had not seen the
draft text.



2. (C) Murillo stated that as a human rights matter, raising
the issue of humanitarian aid for Myanmar is definitely
within the scope of the Security Council, even though some
UNSC members claim it is not. The GOCR feels that protection
of Burmese citizens is a priority and does not want to see
them left defenseless. The GOCR would be supportive of UNSC
action, but added the caveat that the French have been using
stronger language in the media than contained in the
resolution (they did not cite a media source). Therefore, the
MFA officials asked how far the U.S. and France are planning
to go to resolve the situation. The team agreed that the
optimal solution would be that the regime allows in aid
workers and supplies.



3. (C) Ramirez added that the resolution might have more legs
in the UNSC if it were framed around the possibility that the
situation on the ground (with thousands of people suffering
and lacking basic needs) could destabilize the regime and the
region.



4. (C) COMMENT: For the second time when receiving a
Burma-related demarche, Costa Rica asked about China,s
position on the matter. This seems to reflect new Costa Rican
sensitivity to China since establishing relations last year.
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu visited here last week and
signed a $50 million package of donations to Costa Rica. We
will report separately on that.
BRENNAN