The Burma Campaign UK today expressed concern about new reports that Burma is trying to develop a nuclear bomb. The reports are detailed in the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia.
According to defectors, North Korea is helping Burma develop technology to build a nuclear bomb. There have been consistent reports about Burma’s nuclear ambitions for years, but no concrete evidence. Recently, long rumoured tunnels built by North Korea were confirmed as being true.
The Burma Campaign UK is concerned that if reports about Burma’s nuclear ambitions are confirmed, the focus of the international community will switch to disarming the dictatorship, not removing it, and human rights and democratisation will take second place.
“The international community must not make the same mistake as it did with North Korea, where the focus was effectively bribing the regime to give up nuclear weapons, while ignoring human rights”, said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “This approach failed in North Korea, and would fail in Burma. A democratic and accountable government in Burma is the way to solve this problem, as we saw in South Africa.”
That Burma’s generals may be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a nuclear programme while most of the population live in poverty is yet another example of the warped priorities of the dictatorship. The generals have also been pleading poverty to the international community asking for more aid. Burma has one of the lowest levels of government spending on health and education in the world.
For more information contact Mark Farmaner on 0207 324 4710