Karen tours Europe without Shan sidekick

Politics

Karen tours Europe without Shan sidekick

Due to his Shan partner's other commitments, he had been forced to do a solo "promotion" campaign in Europe this year, unlike the previous three years, said the Karen National Union's ace diplomat upon conclusion of his trip yesterday.

Saw Sarky, 52, Plenipotentiary representative of the KNU for Europe and East Timor and Central Committee member, nevertheless summed up his two-day visit to Lisbon (5 May) and Madrid (6 May) as a success, promising that the upcoming tour in June to the Netherlands, the next EU president, will certainly be with Wansai, General Secretary of the exiled Shan Democratic Union.

The two had toured Greece, Portugal, Spain and Netherlands together last year.

The jolly diplomat, who speaks seven languages apart from Karen, which include Italian, French, German, Portuguese and English, met Dr Rosa Batoreu, Director General of Asia and Oceania, Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Dr Carlos Morales Sanchez, Deputy Director General of Asia and Oceania, Spain's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to whom he briefed on the current developments: the KNU-Rangoon ceasefire talks, the ongoing human rights abuses by Burma Army in spite of the "gentlemanly agreed" ceasefire, the KNU's position regarding the forthcoming "National Convention" and the drug situation in Burma.

Asked by Dr Morales what kind of "selective trade sanctions" the EU and Spain could enact if no real changes would materialize in Burma in the near future, he replied: "They must target capital-intensive sectors where, for instance, the capital to labor ratio is high. Otherwise, the regime's finances rather than the common workforce should to be the EU's targets."

The meetings had paved the way for further meetings in the future, which, according to Saw Sarky, could be "very high level" especially in the case of Portugal.

On the Spanish side, he said, Dr Carlos Morales said he would be most pleased to welcome a joint KNU-SDU visit in the future as his ministry had done in the past. Moreover, as a diplomat who had formerly been posted in Southeast Asia, he fully understood that without the full participation of the ethnic nationalities in any political process, there could be no lasting political situation."

Saw Sarky is said to be a personal friend to East Timor's Nobel laureate, Dr Jose Ramos-Horta, who had recently offered to assist in the international efforts to achieve national reconciliation in Burma. In addition, the jack-of-all-trades diplomat is serving as a member of the KNU's think-tank body.