Call for sanctions against Burma

BURMA: Calls are growing for EU sanctions to be imposed against the Burmese junta after its detention of the opposition leader…

BURMA: Calls are growing for EU sanctions to be imposed against the Burmese junta after its detention of the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, dashed hopes of a peaceful reconciliation in the country. John Gittings reports

Ms Suu Kyi is being held in a military intelligence guesthouse in Rangoon, sources from her National League for Democracy said after a clash at Budalin last Friday between her supporters and a pro-junta mob in which the junta says four people died.

Other members of the party's leadership are under house arrest and its branch offices around the country have been closed down.

"The Burmese people have suffered too long, it is time for tough action," MEP Ms Glenys Kinnock said, backing a call by the British-based Burma Sanctions Coalition, which includes Friends of the Earth and the Co-operative Bank. "The response to the brutal crackdown must be in the form of UK and EU investment sanctions."