The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Yangon

Military-run Myanmar was under renewed pressure Saturday after the United States announced a new round of sanctions following the junta's bloody crackdown on dissent here.

The new penalties targeted the country's military leaders Friday and US President George W. Bush also urged China and India, Myanmar's neighbours and main allies, to step up pressure on the military government.

It is the second time in four weeks that Washington, a vocal critic of the junta, has increased sanctions on Myanmar following its clampdown on protests, which killed at least 13 people and jailed about 3,000. State media in Yangon has yet to speak about the latest US action, while detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), also declined to comment.

However, a Yangon-based diplomat voiced scepticism over the impact of the latest sanctions designed to pressure the junta into ending its repression of pro-democracy activists. "The junta leaders may feel nervous because the United States was stepping up pressure very quickly," said the diplomat, who declined to be named.

"But the impact of the latest US sanctions is limited at best. I don't think Myanmar's top leaders still hold vast assets in the United States," he said. Apart from the asset freeze, the United States blacklisted seven companies and five individuals allegedly linked to those companies and the regime. The seven firms included Myanmar's privately owned Air Bagan, which recently launched daily flights to Singapore, the airline's second international destination after Thailand.

The military government has been under international pressure since it violently put down peaceful protests, led by Buddhist monks, in Yangon in September.

In the wake of the violence, the United States ordered a freeze on the assets of 14 top officials including Myanmar's junta leader General Than Shwe.