Suu Kyi laments end of sanctions Aung San Suu Kyi: Myanmar's opposition leader. Sanctions against Myanmar will be lifted permanently by European Union foreign ministers on Monday despite reluctance to support the changes from the country's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Britain is backing what is expected to be a unanimous decision to remove the sanctions on trade and investment imposed on the country's military regime after it annulled the 1990 election won by Ms Suu Kyi's party. Diplomats admitted that Ms Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest, had not wanted the EU to remove the trade and investment measures permanently. However, they said she agreed to acquiesce in order to preserve the more important ban on arms sales. Lobbying by British officials managed to fend off a German attempt to end the military embargo on top of the removal of the other sanctions. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said: "I discussed the situation in Burma over the phone last week with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and agreed with her that now is the time for the EU's relationship to move beyond sanctions, with the exception of the arms embargo." The sanctions were lifted temporarily last year, when EU leaders stressed they could be reimposed at any time. That threat was described as a potent tool to ensure the military-backed government of President Thein Sein continued democratic reforms that have allowed Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy to enter parliament. At the time, British Prime Minister David Cameron stressed the importance of merely suspending the measures, as opposed to removing them altogether. "Those changes are not yet irreversible, which is why it is right to suspend rather than lift sanctions for good," Mr Cameron said.