BURMA: TALKING POINTS FOR GROUP OF FRIENDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 070206 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/06/2019 TAGS: PREL UNSC BU SUBJECT: BURMA: TALKING POINTS FOR GROUP OF FRIENDS MEETING, JULY 8, 2009 Classified By: IO Acting Assistant Secretary Gerald Anderson, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. This is an action cable. Please see para 2. ¶2. USUN may draw on the points in para 3 when making an intervention at the Group of Friends of Burma meeting scheduled for July 8, 2009, at which Special Envoy Gambari will brief on Secretary-General Ban's travel to Burma on July 3 - 4. ¶3. Begin talking points: -- We thank Special Envoy Gambari for convening this briefing on Secretary-General Ban's July 3 - 4 trip to Burma. -- We note that Secretary-General Ban was able to meet with Senior General Than Shwe, members of ceasefire groups, and members of registered political parties, including several members of the National League for Democracy's Central Executive Committee. -- We are disappointed, however, that the Burmese authorities denied the Secretary-General's request to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, and that they have taken no action on the Secretary-General's and the international community's repeated demand that all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, be released without condition. We continue to urge the regime to respond to the Secretary-General's message. -- As the Secretary-General noted, Burma faces numerous challenges that it cannot resolve alone. We are troubled that the authorities continue to delay meeting the grave human rights, political, and economic challenges that face the country. -- We continue to urge the authorities to meet all of their international obligations and to take immediate steps to promote national reconciliation and democratic reforms, beginning with the release of Burma's more than 2,200 political prisoners. We also continue to call for Aung San Suu Kyi's immediate release from detention. End talking points. CLINTON