Brussels, 18/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - While the military junta announced on 9 February that a referendum would be held in May 2008 on a new Constitution and that multi-party elections would be held in 2010, the EU remains “deeply concerned by the situation in Burma/Myanmar”. In conclusions to be adopted on Monday 18 February, the External Relations Council called on the country's authorities to take swift action ahead of a transition to a democratically elected government. It also stressed that only a process which fully involved the opposition and the country's various ethnic groups could lead to national reconciliation and stability. It called for the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
EU Foreign Ministers also gave their support to the United Nations good offices mission and called on the Burmese authorities to cooperate fully with Ibrahim Gambari, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, and Sergio Pinheiro, special rapporteur on human rights. On the same day, Gambari began a new tour of several Asian countries to encourage them to increase the pressure on the Myanmar military regime. The EU was determined to help the people of Burma/Myanmar to create stability, prosperity and democracy, and was ready, in the light of developments, to re-examine, amend or strengthen the measures it had already taken, the ministers added. (A.B.)