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.