Britain to offer military training to Burma to help end ethnic conflicts

Mr Swire was the first European minister to visit Rakhine in December. Thein
Sein has called for religious tolerance and the former general has dismissed
as "pure fabrication" allegations that the Burmese army has
colluded in the violence.

However, official reports into the clashes alleged that the Muslim population
in the east of the country was not native to Burma but imported from Bengali
regions under the Raj, and many Rohingya are denied citizenship to this day.

Mr Swire said he confronted that view, which is widely shared in Burma, with
Foreign Office records "stretching back centuries" to show the
Muslim community should be viewed as an established part of Burma.

Following a request made to Mr Cameron by the opposition leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi, and a visit to Burma by the outgoing chief of the defence staff, Gen
Sir David Richards, a defence attache will be appointed in Rangoon.

The new post is designed to oversee the establishment of military to military
contacts between the Burmese armed forces and their UK counterparts.

Burma remains subject to an EU arms embargo on the sale of weapons but other
sanctions have been dropped.

Burmese military staff will be given training in human rights and the law of
armed conflict from their British counterparts, reviving a relationship that
goes back centuries.

However, campaigning groups claim they are not reconciled with the new policy
of engagement adopted by European and US leaders on Burma. Pro-democracy
organisations in Burma have said the regime has maintained a repressive
military and security apparatus.

Baroness Kinnock of Hollyhead, representing the Burma UK campaign
non-governmental organisation, said Mr Cameron, who meets Thein Sein on
Monday, was rewarding a leader who had not delivered on promised changes,
claiming increased pressure on the regime would be better than conciliatory
gestures. She reflected anger that the Government was also looking to
develop trade ties with Burma, including a move to expand financial
services.

"Promoting trade, before securing major advances on human rights
encourages Thein Sein to believe that his government can continue to act
with impunity. William Hague and David Cameron should send Thein Sein away
with a flea in his ear, not a pat on his back," she said.

A petition organised by the campaign group Avaaz calling on Britain and France
to issue an ultimatum on the violence to Thein Sein during the meetings has
drawn more than one million signatures. Campaigners will line Whitehall with
black tombstones during the meeting.

"The Rohingya in Burma face intimidation and terror and the parallels
with the Rwandan genocide are clear to see. David Cameron used to hug a
hoody, now he is more interested in hugging generals – we hope he speaks out
when he meets President (Thein) Sein and demands an end of the violence,"
said Sam Barratt, the spokesman.

But Mr Swire said the campaigners were misreading the intentions of the
Government, which maintains a close working relationship Miss Suu Kyi, the
freed democracy leader who hopes to be president.

"It is wrong to think we are not keeping up the pressure on Burma. There
has indeed been a lot of talk from the Burmese government but we want to see
is a lot more walk the walk."

Officials said Mr Cameron had no plans to follow President Barack Obama and
succumb to Burmese pressure to refer to the country as Myanmar, the name the
military regime chose for the country in the 1990s.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/15/britain-to-offer-military-training-to-burma-to-help-end-ethnic-conflicts/