International pressure is required

Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt calls in his weblog for swift aid measures to help Burma. However, he points out that to ensure that this aid reaches the people it will be necessary to exert political pressure on the Burmese junta. "The news from Burma is getting worse and worse. There is talk of thousands of dead and hundreds of thousands who no longer have a roof over their heads. Gunilla Carlsson, the Minister for International Development Cooperation, has promised swift aid from Sweden. But the problem could take on political dimensions because the military regime wants to force the Burmese people to accept the new constitution in a referendum scheduled for Saturday, and is consequently giving foreign aid teams only restricted access. Now political pressure must be exerted so that this aid actually reaches the people."

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