Burma and international aid

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World news analyst Jesús Torquemada. Photo: EFE

France hit a raw nerve: if the Burmese military Junta does not allow the international community to help its people and let them die, the U.N., as the representative of the international community, has to do something and send aid by force if it is necessary.

Deep down this initiative there is the so-called “right of humanitarian interference”. One of the main defenders of this right is the French minister for foreign affairs, Bernard Kouchner, who started to develop that idea during the time he was director of Doctors Without Borders. However, it is not easy to materialize this initiative. The international community has already showed it has different ways to behave.

It only takes part in some places, depending on the interests of the most powerful countries, although conflicts or problems are similar everywhere. As for Burma, both the Unites States and Great Britain will accept French proposal with great interest, because they are trying to overthrow Burmese soldiers for long, using commercial boycott and political sanctions. But that does not mean that the U.N must accept an international military intervention, because China will strongly oppose the Security Council, among other things.

China is Burmese soldier’s main ally and, in fact, the latter are accepting China’s and other countries’ aid, but they refuse to receive other countries’ help, although that endangers the life of thousands of their own citizens.