WASHINGTON (AFP) — US First Lady Laura Bush on Friday called for a global boycott of jewels from Myanmar, specifically urging companies to shun a gem show in Yangon and consumers around the world to look elsewhere.
"Every Burmese stone bought, cut, polished, and sold sustains an illegitimate, repressive regime," she said in a statement released by the White House. Washington refers to the country as "Burma."
Bush said that Myanmar's military rulers had just opened a potentially lucrative gem auction show in the country's main city Yangon, seeking much-needed foreign currency amid tightening Western sanctions.
"These funds prop up the regime, allowing it to continue to harass, arrest, and sentence peaceful activists who seek freedom of speech, worship, and assembly," the US first lady said.
"Those who support freedom and justice for the Burmese people should not help fill the regime's coffers at this gem show. I applaud the Jewelers of America and member companies such as Tiffany and Cartier for taking a stand against the importation of Burmese gems," she said.
"I urge others in the industry, both in the US and worldwide, to join in this important effort and refuse to have the trade in Burmese gems prop up the Burmese regime," she said.
The junta hopes to sell some 5,500 lots of jade, gems and pearls, worth nearly 200 million euros (about 300 million dollars), during the 13-day auction, an official of state-run Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE) told AFP.
"The quality of our stones is the best," said the official, who declined to be named, adding that more than 2,000 foreign merchants, mainly from neighboring China and Thailand, were expected to attend the fifth sale this year.
The poverty-stricken country is the source of up to 90 percent of the world's rubies, and each auction of precious stones rakes in more than 100 million dollars, making it a key source of revenue for the military regime.
Myanmar used to hold gem auctions twice a year but has been holding them with increasing frequency in a bid to raise much-needed foreign currency amid tightening sanctions against the junta. It held four auctions in 2006.
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