Bush set to widen Myanmar sanctions

US President George W Bush yesterday was to widen economic sanctions on Myanmar's military rulers, piling on pressure for a transition to democracy after a bloody crackdown on anti-junta protests.
The White House said Bush would make the announcement at 1:50 pm (1750 GMT), just weeks after the United States slapped a visa ban on key junta members and their families and froze their assets in the United States.
The US president had also denounced the regime in remarks to the UN General Assembly after the junta's crackdown on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in late September, when at least 13 people were killed and 3,000 detained.
"He focused the attention of the international community on the need to take action against the Burmese regime," said spokesman Tony Fratto. Official US policy is to refer to Myanmar by its former name of Burma.
Bush had warned of additional action "if the Burmese regime did not end its repression," Fratto said. "Unfortunately the regime has not responded to the calls of the international community."
It was not immediately clear exactly what kinds of sanctions Bush would announce, but an administration official said he would broaden the existing financial measures targeting "individuals and entities."
The move came as Myanmar's leaders said they were taking another step on the "road map" to democracy by drafting a new charter, and accused the United States of training the monks who led the protests.
The junta named 54 people to a committee tasked with writing a new constitution, following more than a decade of talks on the guidelines for the charter, the official New Light of Myanmar paper said.
The administration's moves came as US lawmakers weighed new sanctions that would pressure US energy giant Chevron to pull its money from Myanmar, amid charges from rights activists that the investments prop up the junta.
Under the strategy, similar to one used against US companies during the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa, the legislation introduced this week would end tax write-offs enjoyed by Chevron on revenues earned from its natural gas project in Myanmar.
Chevron will also be barred from making any payments to the junta from its joint venture with French oil giant Total, Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production, and Myanmar's Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise operating the lucrative Yadana gas fields, congressional aides said.
The proposal was introduced by Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"It is not mandating Chevron to pull out of Burma, but the provisions are tough enough to make them rethink their operations in that country," a congressional aide told AFP, referring to Myanmar by its former name.
Chevron is one of biggest Western companies in Myanmar, holding a 28 percent minority share in the Yadana natural gas project following its acquisition of another US energy giant, Unocal, in 2005.
The United States has already imposed substantial trade, investment and diplomatic sanctions on Myanmar, but Chevron's operations predate an enhanced 2003 US trade embargo.
Other measures unveiled in the sanctions package were aimed at stopping the US import of gemstones from Myanmar through third countries, and tightening a freeze on the assets of the country's political and military leaders.