Swiss sever development aid ties with Myanmar regime

All quiet in Yangon, Myanmar on December 10, as anti-coup groups called on the public to participate in a "Silent Strike". Keystone / Stringer

Switzerland has frozen all direct financial and technical cooperation with the ruling junta in Myanmar, the Swiss public broadcaster has reported.

While no development cooperation projects would be stopped completely – this would be detrimental to the Myanmar population – they will be adapted so that there is no direct aid sent to the ruling junta, French-speaking RTS radio said on Friday.

For example, a professional training programme, a “flagship project of the Swiss”, will be rejigged so that it works with private service providers rather than the government, a representative from the Swiss embassy in Myanmar told the radio.

Any dealings with the ruling military junta will be limited to the strictly necessary, such as public health imperatives, including vaccination programmes, said Giacomo Solari, who heads the Swiss cooperation office in the Asian country.

As a result, the 2022 Swiss development cooperation budget for Myanmar will be cut from CHF25 million (the amount for 2020) to CHF20 million ($23.1 million to $18.5 million).

Coup aftermath

Switzerland condemned the situation in Myanmar following an army takeover of power in February, and in March suspended development aid to the country, with only emergency aid maintained while officials reviewed some 30 ongoing projects.

“It’s mainly a question of whether we maintain cooperation and, if so, to what extent is cooperation acceptable in order to safeguard the progress made over the past ten years while avoiding giving legitimacy to the new regime,” the foreign ministry told Swiss media at the time.

Bern has also on several occasions announced sanctions against the leaders of the coup. And earlier this week, the government criticised a military tribunal in the Asian country for sentencing the country’s overthrown democratic leaders, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, to prison for inciting dissent and breaking Covid-19 rules.