From Prof Jeffrey D. Sachs.

Sir, Aung Din (Letters, August 9) claims my analysis "parrots the revisionist claims by Burma's military rulers that the 1990 election (won by a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy) was about writing a new constitution - it was most certainly not".

Yet, in the lead-up to the May 27 1990 election, the ruling state council had emphasised that a new constitution would be required. On May 19 1990, The Economist reported: "The main job of the elected assembly will be to write a constitution on which there will be a referendum. This will be followed by an election to form a new government. The whole process is expected to take two years, during which the state council will continue to rule."

The Independent newspaper, the Associated Press and other international media issued similar reports before the election. Indeed, Aung San Suu Kyi made the same point on July 1 1989 in an interview reprinted in her essays Freedom from Fear. Asked what would happen after elections, she answered: "Whoever is elected will first have to draw up a constitution that will have to be adopted before the transfer of power. They haven't said how the constitution will be adopted. It could be through a referendum, but that could mean months and months, if not years."

The NLD, in the wake of its landslide victory, proposed to come to power within weeks by reintroducing the 1947 constitution. The army rejected this, arguing that a new constitution should be ratified by referendum, in part to secure the support of the ethnic minorities. According to The Independent, the army also wanted to revise the constitution to eliminate "any possibility of secession for ethnic minority states around the Burmese borders". In the event, politics failed, and a devastating crackdown ensued.

Rather than sanctions, Myanmar needs an economic recovery supported by international trade and investment, and a recovery of political dialogue. A step-by-step process could consolidate the regime's success in negotiating the end of the ethnic insurgencies, establish a new constitution and succeed in the long-delayed transition to democracy.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Director, Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, US