US envoy says Myanmar should focus on cyclone, not referendum

The Associated Press   |  Wed, 05/07/2008 5:21 PM

A top U.S. envoy to Southeast Asia said Wednesday that Myanmar's military junta should be focusing all its efforts on helping victims of a devastating cyclone, not pressing forward with a planned constitutional referendum.

Scot Marciel, who was appointed last week as the first U.S. ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said he was "surprised" Myanmar was going ahead with Saturday's vote, which Washington has described as a sham.

"It's clear that they have a tremendous disaster on hand that I would expect requires all their attention and resources," he said at a news conference during a visit to Malaysia.

"It's a huge crisis and it just seems odd to me that the government would go ahead with the referendum in this circumstance," he said.

Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar's coast over the weekend, killing more than 22,000 people and leaving as many as 1 million homeless. At least 41,000 people are missing.

The government has said it will go ahead with Saturday's vote on a draft constitution in most areas but postponed balloting in cyclone-hit areas until May 24.

The government calls the vote an important step on its "roadmap to democracy," but critics say the constitution is meant to perpetuate military rule.

Marciel, who is also a deputy assistant secretary of state, said the referendum would not contribute to Myanmar's national unity because it was not "free, fair nor credible."

"The draft constitution is written secretly by hand-picked groups and the government has suppressed all efforts by opponents to the constitution to have any kind of open debate about it," he said.

He pledged to work with the 10-member ASEAN bloc to push Myanmar toward democracy but said Washington's focus at the moment was to channel assistance to cyclone victims.

The U.S. has said it will send more than US$3 million (euro1.9 million) to help cyclone victims. President George W. Bush also said Washington was prepared to use the U.S. Navy to help search for the dead and missing. However, the Myanmar military, which regularly accuses the U.S. of trying to subvert its rule, was unlikely to accept U.S. military presence in its territory.

Myanmar has also resisted allowing a U.S. disaster assessment team to enter the country.

"We hope that they would accept assistance from the United States, it's meant sincerely from the American people. If not, we would work with the U.N. and other organizations who are able to get inside the country," Marciel said. ASEAN's members are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (*)

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