The Myanmar junta's new crackdown on the democratic opposition has revived calls for tougher sanctions, as a furious international community seeks to vent its outrage on the regime.
The US has led the charge, expanding its visa blacklist and renewing calls for trade sanctions in the wake of Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest after clashes between her supporters and a military-backed group.
As many as 100 people are feared dead in the May 30 violence, which the US Department of State said appeared to have been a premeditated attack mounted by a junta-backed mob.
"We have been actively reviewing our Burma [Myanmar] policy in light of the current situation," said spokesman Richard Boucher. "The explanations that they [the regime] have made of the violence and subsequent events lack credibility.
"These actions have to be interpreted as suggesting that they have decided to end efforts at national reconciliation," he said. "That, too, would be a very regrettable turn of events."
Several prominent US senators have called for trade sanctions and introduced a measure called the "Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003" that would impose an import ban on goods manufactured in Myanmar.
It would also place travel restrictions on junta members and their relatives seeking to enter the US.
"The US alone absorbs between 20 and 25 percent of Burma's exports. Consideration of a US import ban should help focus attention in Rangoon on the consequences of flagrantly violating the human rights of the Burmese people and their chosen leaders," said Republican Senator John McCain.
The US currently maintains an investment ban, travel restrictions for Myanmar officials and an arms embargo on Yangon, among some other sanctions aimed at pressing the junta to initiate democratic reform.
However, diplomats in Yangon warned that a total ban on imports could be "dangerous and counter-productive."
"The garment industry is privately run so what you're looking at is putting tens of thousands of people out of work which would exacerbate the dire economic situation here," said one Western diplomat.
"It would not affect the government, so there is a need to be cautious. It could be a symbolic gesture but with real economic repercussion for the people," he said.
The EU has also warned it could strengthen its sanctions against the regime which date from October 1996, and called on Myanmar's neighbors to increase their pressure on the ruling military junta.
A spokeswoman for EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten said the EU rolled over its sanctions regime -- an arms embargo, a freezing of assets and a visa ban on a list of Burmese officials -- in April.
But in light of recent events it could now be bolstered, notably by putting more people on the visa ban list, she said.
"There are a number of meetings going on discussing whether that should happen earlier than the envisaged date of the end of October," she said. "Other forms of sanctions might be brought into play."
The sanctions, coupled with an abysmal record of economic management, have left Myanmar's once prosperous economy in ruins.
Observers say that only the black economy and profits from a massive drugs trade keep it ticking over.
However, the junta has proved resistant to calls for change and insists the sanctions are only pushing Myanmar's people deeper into poverty.
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