Students ask EU to push Myanmar

Students ask EU to push Myanmar

BANGKOK (AFP): Exiled Myanmar students on Wednesday urged
Europe to maintain its hardline stance against the junta in
Yangon and refuse visas to military officials wanting to attend
ASEAN-EU talks in Berlin next month.

The All Burma Students Democratic Front urged "the European
Union (EU) to maintain its tough stance on Myanmar at the ASEAN-
EU Ministerial meeting".

It said the EU, which is reportedly considering softening its
longstanding ban on visas for junta officials to allow the
meeting to go ahead, could not ignore the continuing
deterioration of human rights in Myanmar.

"The reported recent softening of the EU's policy on Burma
contrasts with the increasing severity of the junta's approach to
the pro-democracy opposition in Burma," the front said in a
statement.