ミャンマーで白燐弾が使用されたという報告に関する米政府の言及

2012年11月にミャンマー政府が民衆に対して白燐弾を使用したというニュースは以前からありましたが、ミャンマー政府からの報告がようやく出てきたようです。
白燐弾に対する米政府の認識の一端が伺えるやりとりです。

QUESTION: Sorry. On Myanmar.

MS. NULAND: Yeah.

QUESTION: There was a report out today that back in November the Myanmar Government used smoke bombs containing phosphorus against a rally outside a copper mine in northern Myanmar. This was happening about the same time as United States was lifting the import sanctions on Myanmar, and I wondered if I could have a comment on that, please.

MS. NULAND: We do note the report, which appears to confirm that security forces in Burma used smoke bombs containing phosphorus to disperse protestors. We have opposed the use of phosphorus as a crowd control agent. And we have urged the government to ensure that its security forces exercise maximum restraint, respect due process under the law, and protect the right of freedom of assembly in accordance with international standards. This phosphorus, as you know, can be quite damaging to humans. There are other crowd control elements that are better suited.

QUESTION: What does this say about – generally about the passage of reforms in Myanmar and how they might be being implemented by the government?

MS. NULAND: Well, it’s no secret that this is a work in progress in Burma. As we said from the beginning, we would take steps to open our relationship as they take steps, but we are continuing, as you know, as part of that, to have a rigorous human rights dialogue with Burma, which includes issues like police conduct, freedom of assembly, these kinds of things. So this is something that we’re obviously watching very closely and continuing to work with the Burmese on as they open their country.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2013/03/205993.htm#BURMA