US and Myanmar up military engagement
By Tim McLaughlin | Thursday, 01 August 2013The United States plans to begin military engagement with Myanmar later this month, ambassador Derek Mitchell said, as part of Washington's efforts to encourage the Tatmadaw to transform into a professional security force with civilian oversight.
Speaking on August 1 in Yangon alongside US Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, who was in Myanmar on a three-day visit, Mr Mitchell said that initial military engagement would focus on humanitarian issues, officer professionalisation and human rights.
"This is an absolutely critical institution in the country and has been for 50 years," Mr Mitchell said of the Tatmadaw. "We need to establish a regular dialogue, we need to get new ideas into that institution because they have been operating on old ideas that haven't seemed to work very well for the country."
The nascent engagement will be undertaken by the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies, a Rhode Island-based organisation of military lawyers that works for the US Department of Defense. The group recently concluded a preliminary trip to Myanmar – a visit that Mr Mitchell said was enthusiastically welcomed by Tatmadaw leaders.
However, Mr Mitchell insisted that there was no definitive "road map" for military-to-military activities. He said instead that cooperation would be contingent on the continuation of the reform process undertaken by President U Thein Sein and that the US was "not even close" to arms sales or operational training of Myanmar troops.
It was a view echoed by Mr Rhodes, who is a close adviser to President Barack Obama. He accompanied the president to Yangon in November 2012 and is seen as a driving force behind the White House's policy toward Myanmar.
"We are not going to be able to see a deepening of that [military] engagement unless we see a continued progress on reform and … a permanent change made in terms of an inclusive democratic society," Mr Rhodes said.
As well as improve its professionalism, Washington also wants to encourage the Tatmadaw to relinquish its hold on 25 percent of seats in Myanmar's parliaments.
US policy towards Myanmar has until now largely skirted the military, focusing instead on development aid and furthering economic ties through the easing of sanctions. However, a defence attaché has always been maintained at the embassy and Mr Mitchell also holds regular talks with Myanmar's top brass as part of what the embassy calls an "ongoing discussion" about possible military cooperation.
The US movement toward military cooperation follows the United Kingdom's decision in early June to send a team of experts to study how Britain's military can aid Myanmar. The assessment followed a visit by the UK's Chief of Defence Staff General Sir David Richards.
However, the US has also made clear its intention to target those members of the military it believes are deviating from its perceived path to reform.
On July 2 the US Department of the Treasury sanctioned Lieutenant General Thein Htay, head of the Directorate of Defense Industries, for apparent arms deals involving North Korea. In a statement issued by US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen, the government emphasised that it was displeased with an individual but that on the whole Myanmar continues "to take positive steps in severing its military ties with North Korea".
Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/08/02/us-and-myanmar-up-military-engagement/
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