US expands sanctions against Burma

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Amy Kazmin
FT Syndication Service
BANGKOK: President George W. Bush has expanded US sanctions against Burma's rulers, accusing them of "vicious persecution" of democracy protesters.
"Burma's rulers continue to defy the world's just demands to stop their vicious persecution," Mr Bush said on Friday.
He unveiled the second package of US measures in less than a month, tightening US export controls on the Asian country and adding 11 more junta leaders to the sanctions list.
On Friday, Burma's military rulers appointed a 54-member committee to finalise a new constitution.
The new charter committee excludes the National League for Democracy - the political party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, which won a landslide election victory in 1990 but was barred from taking power - despite calls from Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy, for democracy advocates' aspirations to be reflected in a new charter.
While a UN official said opposition groups might still influence the charter, critics said the committee would probably just codify the controversial draft that enshrines military dominance over society and public life.
Meanwhile, international non-governmental organisations, including Save the Children and the International HIV/Aids Alliance, called for "significantly scaled-up international humanitarian assistance" to help Burma's poor.