PRESS STATEMENT ON MYANMAR

Zomi International Network
“Zomi Beyond Boundaries”
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PRESS STATEMENT ON MYANMAR

For Immediate Release

November 25,2007

Zomi International Network welcomes the release of Pu Chin Sian Thang, Chairman of Zomi National Congress and member of Committee Representing People Parliament. The quest for freedom and democracy cannot be silenced or suppressed by the use of force, arresting and imprisoning political leaders. This kind of actions by the authorities not only undermines the dialogue process, it delays the national reconciliation and the establishment of democracy in Myanmar. Other political detainees and prisoners must be released immediately.

Zomi International Network calls on the Myanmar government to show greater respect for human rights, to end the severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, to stop the harassment and intimidation of ethnic leaders, human rights defenders and democracy activists in Myanmar.

Zomi International Network expresses concern for the fate of protesters arrested during recent demonstrations and the continuing imprisonment of others and widespread harassment of critics and opponents of the government. The International Committee of the Red Cross and humanitarian organizations must be allowed to access to political detainees and prisoners.

Zomi International Network welcomes the statement by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on November 8, 2007 including the expectation that a “meaningful and time bound dialogue” will start as soon as possible.

Zomi International Network calls on Myanmar government to accelerate national reconciliation process and democratization in Myanmar.

Zomi International Network reaffirms its “strong and unwavering” support for the leadership of Pu Chin Sian Thang and Zomi National Congress in the continued struggle for peace and democracy in Myanmar.

For Media Contact
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E-mail : zonet.zomi@yahoo. com
Web Address - http://zomi. org

NORTH AMERICA

Suanpi
Tel : 615-715-5147

Gin Mang
Tel: 403-245-6644

ASIA PACIFIC

Paul Khaipu
Tel: 61-4252-34281

Zomuan Taang
Tel:65-8164- 1722

EUROPE

Pu Tongseal
Tel: 46-70-349-3586

Zomi International Network
http://zomi. org

Requested Letter from All Burma Monk Alliances to Military Government

ASEAN urged to keep Burma on agenda

ABC NEWS

The UN's rapporteur on human rights for Burma, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, has called on the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to maintain its pressure on Burma's military leaders.
Mr Pinheiro has now left Burma after a five-day visit to the isolated nation.
He was there to investigate September's military crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Mr Pinheiro has called on next week's ASEAN summit to work for change in Burma, a member of the south-east Asian grouping.
"It is very important that ASEAN continue to highlight the concern about the country about the political situation," he said.
"The key for the solution for a better future in the country, for the political transition process to move ahead, is precisely the concern and the co-ordinated action of the ASEAN members."
Plans for a green region
Meanwhile, a draft statement from the summit says ASEAN leaders will pledge to increase the region's forest cover by 2020 and promote the use of nuclear energy.
The leaders will also throw their support behind a UN plan as the "core mechanism" for tackling global warming.
Leaders from 10 south-east Asian nations, along with their counterparts from Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, are to release the statement when they meet in Singapore on Wednesday.
In the draft, the leaders pledge to work towards an "aspirational goal of increasing cumulative forest cover in the region by at least 15 million hectares of all types of forests by 2020".
They are expected to agree to cooperate on the "development and the use of civilian nuclear power," amid concerns soaring oil prices could hurt regional economic growth.
But the draft stresses that the use of atomic energy will be carried out in a "manner ensuring nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation" by adopting safeguards within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
- ABC/AFP

BURMA: Picture of Normalcy Presented to UN Envoy

RANGOON, Nov 16 (IPS)
By Moe Yu May


Over the past few days, Burma’s military regime has yet again proved its mastery at conjuring up an image of normalcy when an important visitor is in town.

But the drama played out for United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio after he touched down in this commercial centre on Sunday has nauseated and angered the monks and ordinary people who have been at the receiving end of the junta’s extreme repression.

Gone from view were the intimidating figures of armed soldiers who had crushed a peaceful protest in late September. Downtown Rangoon did have a sizeable presence of plain-clothes men on duty to prevent attempts at staging demonstrations during Pinheiro’s five-day visit.

Similar deception was evident on the roads leading to the residence of Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader who has been kept under house arrest for over 12 years. Barbed wire fences were rolled on and off the roads depending on Pinheiro’s movements in that area.

Yet there were moments when the true side of the country’s brutal military regime burst to the surface. On Tuesday, Su Su Nway, a leading labour rights champion who had been in hiding after the crackdown on the protests, was arrested in Rangoon.

The visit of Pinheiro, a Brazilian diplomat, was viewed by many here as a test of how open the military regime was to international scrutiny. For the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta is officially known, had banned the U.N. envoy from visiting Burma, also known as Myanmar, for the past four years.

Initial signs suggested the SPDC’s willingness to compromise, given that Pinheiro was permitted to visit the notorious Insein prison in Rangoon soon after he arrived. Many of Burma’s over 1,100 political prisoners have long been held in this jail. It was also in Insein that hundreds of protestors were locked up after the brutal crackdown. But sources say that the opportunity for the envoy to interview the victims were limited during his first visit.

Pinheiro was also permitted to visit other detention centres, monasteries and a cemetery to gather details of human rights violations in this former Burmese capital. But it was scrutiny that was well publicised. On one occasion the junta’s officials took the envoy to the Htein Pin cemetery followed by a posse of journalists from the state-owned media.

As such accounts made their way across Rangoon, they prompted a reaction of cynicism and anger. ‘’The military government is like a sore on our body. It doesn’t give us any good thing. It badly infects the whole body,’’ a 26-year-old Buddhist monk told IPS. ‘’Only the U.N. and international pressure can cure that sore, I think.’’

This monk was among the scores of saffron-clad clergy who were beaten and arrested for their defiant role in the peaceful protests through the streets of Rangoon, which was the first of its kind seen in this country in nearly two decades. He was initially held at the General Technology Institute (GTI), a vocational training centre, in northern Rangoon, for 19 days before being moved to Insein prison.

The protests began in mid-August following a sudden steep hike in fuel prices. It was first led by civilians and former university student leaders known as the ‘’88 Generation’’ for the pivotal role they played in triggering a pro-democracy uprising in 1988, which was brutally crushed with some 3,000 people killed.

On the eve of his visit, Pinheiro warned the junta that any obstruction to his work, to inquire into the human rights violations that occurred during the September crackdown, will not be taken lightly. He threatened to stop his mission and ‘’fly out of the country’’ if his hands were tied.

The number of lives lost during the crackdown still remains unknown. The state media in Burma has reported that 10 people died after armed troops and riot police targeted the tens of thousands of monks and civilians who had taken to the streets in Rangoon and other cities. But anti-junta groups say the death toll was much higher, closer to 200 lives lost.

Rangoon’s citizens are hardly surprised that the junta downplayed the death toll to convince Pinheiro that the situation is less grim than reported in the international media, such as the BBC and Voice of America (VOA). ‘’I bet you this military junta would use every tricky way to hold its power,’’ a retired education officer said in an interview. ‘’(The junta) wrote in the (state-owned) newspapers’ back cover that the BBC is lying or VOA is lying, which is not correct. They are the liars actually.’’

But there are some who welcome the presence of Pinheiro and Ibrahim Gambari, a U.N. special envoy who was in Burma the previous week, as an opportunity to free the country from its oppressive environment. Gambari, who has visited Burma twice since the crackdown, has described his meetings with leading members of the junta and Suu Kyi as ‘’positive.’’

‘’I think dialogue will give us the best opportunity to solve all problems,’’ an artist in his mid-40s who was deeply involved in the 1988 pro-democracy uprising told IPS. ‘’We have to persuade the regime to accept the dialogue approach. We might need to use diplomacy sometimes (and) at the same time we have to organise and educate the government to come along.’’

Suu Kyi has already set the tone for this by her recent gestures during Gambari’s last visit, added a senior Burmese journalist based in the central city of Mandalay. ‘’It was like opening a window from her side. Aung San Suu Kyi passed a message of generosity to the world through U.N. envoy Gambari.’’

First look: 'Rambo' is on a mission in Burma

By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
Rambo has become a nihilist.
Sylvester Stallone's Green Beret, who started as a tragic representation of Vietnam veteran neglect in the original film and morphed into a superhero soldier by the third, is back for a fourth outing.
This one plunges John Rambo into the gun sights of the brutal military dictatorship of Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma, where in real life the ruling junta recently received international condemnation for its violent suppression of a pro-democracy uprising led by Buddhist monks.
The movie's story, which borrows from tales of real-life atrocities but is otherwise fictional, involves Rambo reluctantly helping missionaries traverse the wilderness of the Salween River on their way to deliver supplies to camps of war-ravaged refugees.
Rambo has spent the past two decades living in the region as a hermit, one who has shed patriotism, lost his faith and given up on humanity.
"He realizes his entire existence has been for naught," Stallone says. "Peace is an accident, war is natural. Old men start it, young men fight it, everybody in the middle dies, and nobody tells the truth. He says, 'You think God's going to make it all go away? What has he done and changed in the world? He has done nothing. We are an aggressive animal and will never be at peace.' That's how he feels."
When he encounters the human-rights workers, they "somehow touch the last remaining nerve in Rambo's body," Stallone says.
The movie is titled simply Rambo, without any sequel number, similar to Stallone's recent Rocky Balboa, the sixth film in that franchise, which was praised by critics and fans for restoring integrity to the iconic underdog boxer.
Similarly, this fourth Rambo seeks to rehabilitate the tortured soldier's tale that even Stallone acknowledges strayed too far into fantasy when Rambo III came out in 1988.
Stallone, 61, says he let fame get to his head with some of those previous sequels and didn't maintain the heart that made the originals iconic.
"When you're a kind of nondescript, unknown, inconsequential actor and all of a sudden you're famous, it's very easy to lose touch there," Stallone says.
"You keep pushing the envelope, but there is a limit, and the audience retreats."

FIND MORE STORIES IN:

Rocky Sylvester Stallone Burma Vietnam veteran Films Green Beret Rambo: First Blood Part II

Canada imposes "toughest sanctions" against Burma

Peter Goodspeed , CanWest News Service

Published: Thursday, November 15, 2007



TORONTO -- Advocating a new "international realism" in Canadian foreign policy, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier announced sweeping new sanctions against Burma on Wednesday.
The repression in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has grown worse in the past weeks and months," Bernier said. "People are being arrested, people are being tortured and people are being killed. Peaceful demonstrations by unarmed Buddhist monks were met with bullets."
He condemned Burma's ruling military junta for fostering a record of destruction, forced labour, systematic rape, the use of child soldiers, illegal drug trafficking, and for failing to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"Each of these factors contravenes what our foreign policy stands for," he said. "Each is rejected by governments of countries we share our values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Each is an affront to the United Nations Charter."
"The question is simple," he declared. "What can we Canadians do? What can we do as Canadians to force change?"
His answer was to announce what he described as "the toughest sanctions in the world" against Burma.
Canada will immediately ban all exports to and from Burma with the exception of humanitarian aid.
It will freeze assets in Canada of Burmese nationals connected with the government.
It will prohibit Canadian financial services to and from Burma and it will prohibit the export of any technical data to Burma.
There will be a ban on all new investment in Burma by Canadians and Canadian-registered ships and aircraft will be prohibited from docking or landing in Burma.
Burmese shipping and aircraft will not be allowed to enter Canada.
"We know we are getting out ahead of other countries," Bernier told a breakfast meeting of Bay Street financiers at the Economic Club of Toronto. "But Canada has done so before, and we have been proven right."
He praised past Canadian governments for using sanctions to fight apartheid in South Africa and for playing a leadership role in Sudan and for Canada's "noble and necessary" sacrifice in Afghanistan.
"In every case, Canadian values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law are being promoted," he said.
"A strong foreign policy is one that is anchored in strong values - and in a clear-eyed assessment of our interests," he added. "In Burma there is no more room for compromise with this odious regime."

Update: UN envoy visits Burma prisons, temples

Rangoon (dpa) - United Nations Special Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro on Monday investigated claims that the ruling junta last September beat up, killed and burned the bodies of Buddhist monks and their followers in temples, prisons and crematoriums in Rangoon.

UN human rights expert Pinheiro, who arrived in Rangoon Sunday after being denied a visa to visit the country since 2003, has been on the move since his plane touched down, sources said.

On Sunday he visited pro-government Kya Khat Waing Buddhist Monastery in Bago, 80 kilometres north-east of Rangoon, before returning to the city to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, which was the rallying point for the peaceful monk-led marches that rocked Rangoon in September.

The protests ended on September 26-27 when the government unleashed its forces on monks and their laymen followers, beating and shooting them into submission.

The crackdown on monks for conducting peaceful protests in a predominantly Buddhist country shocked the world and brought the Burmese military back into the international spotlight of condemnation.

The government claims that only 10 people died in the crackdown. Other sources claim the death toll was closer to 200. Up to 3,000 people were arrested during and after the crackdown, of whom an unknown number remain in jail.

One of Pinheiro's tasks is to verify the number of deaths and detentions, in a country that is notorious for hiding the truth.

Observers said Pinheiro, no stranger to Burma, had planned his itinerary well. Abbots at the Kya Khat Waing Monastery were among the few to condemn the September protests and to chastise the monks for getting involved in politics.

On Monday Pinheiro visited monasteries that were more closely involved in the so-called "saffron revolution."

First he visited Kabaraye, the seat of Burma's Sangha, or the Buddhist hierarchy similar to the Catholic Church's senior clergy. Pinheiro held talks with the 47-man Sangha, the outcome of which was not disclosed.

He proceeded to Ngwe-Kyar-Yan monastery, South Okkalapa township, where monks were allegedly beaten and taken away in army trucks on the morning of September 27. The abbot of that monastery was severely beaten and according to some accounts, has died of his injuries.

Pinheiro then visited the Nan Oo monastery, in Mingala Taungnyunt Township, where authorities claimed they found explosives on October 11, belonging to dissident monks.

The UN rapporteur also visited the Htein-Pin cemetery in Hlaing-Thar-Yar township, where witnesses said they saw mass cremations being carried out in secret on the night of September 27.

On Monday afternoon he visited Rangoon's Insein Jail and the Government Technical Institute, where hundreds of people were detained in the aftermath of the September crackdown.

He is expected to leave Rangoon Tuesday morning for Naypyidaw to meet with ministers and representatives of the junta.

"Mr Pinheiro very much welcomed his return to Myanmar, in the context of the mandate entrusted to him by the United Nations Human Rights Council," said a UN statement released Sunday night, using the junta's name for Burma.

The fact that the Burmese regime has granted Pinheiro a visa is deemed one of several positive signs that they are bowing to international pressure to hasten the process of national reconciliation.

Pinheiro's visit follows fast on the heels of UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who was in Burma between November 3-8.

Gambari persuaded the junta to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to meet with her National League for Democracy colleagues on Friday and hold talks with the government's "minister of relations" Aung Kyi.

After Friday's meetings Suu Kyi expressed some optimism about the junta's willingness to start a process towards national reconciliation. The 1991 Nobel peace laureate has been under house arrest since May, 2003, and has spent 12 of the past 18 years in detention.

There is still great skepticism that the military, which has ruled Burma for the past 45 years, has any real intention of sharing power with civilian politicians in the near future.

Although Suu Kyi's party won the 1990 election by a landslide, the military has denied it any power for the past 17 years.

Gambari has the tough job of persuading the xenophobic generals to initiate a dialogue which would ultimately loosen their iron grip on power.

UN ENVOY TO PROBE BURMA CRACKDOWN

Senior UN investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has arrived in Burma -
the first time the military government has allowed him to visit for four years.

Last Updated:
Sunday, 11 November 2007, 08:18 GMT

Mr Pinheiro hopes to meet political prisoners and find out exactly how many people died when protests against the government were crushed in September.

The government says 10 people died. Others put the figure at more than 100.

The UN investigator has said he will leave immediately if the authorities fail to co-operate.

Mr Pinheiro, the UN's independent human rights investigator for Burma, has not been allowed to go there since November 2003.

His visit comes days after UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari spent six days in Burma, meeting a number of ministers as well as detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The UN said afterwards that a path to "substantive dialogue" was now under way.

'Fine-tuning'

Mr Pinheiro did not speak to reporters as he arrived in Rangoon, Reuters news agency reported.

His proposed itinerary for the visit was still being "fine-tuned", a UN spokesman quoted by Associated Press said.

BBC Asia correspondent Andrew Harding says Mr Pinheiro will need free and unrestricted access to Burmese prisoners to do his job.

Mr Pinheiro wants full and free access to political prisoners

The military government clearly resents this sort of intervention, our correspondent says.

The Red Cross has suspended its own prison visits because it is no longer allowed private access to detainees.

There is some evidence that external and internal pressure is beginning to have an impact on Burma's generals - and the fact that Mr Pinheiro is being allowed in is a concession of sorts, our correspondent adds.

UN probes human rights in Myanmar

Human rights groups estimate more than 700 political

prisoners are being held in Myanmar prisons [AFP]

UPDATED ON:
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2007
9:51 MECCA TIME, 6:51 GMT

A UN envoy has arrived in Myanmar to investigate the state of human rights in the country.

Paulo Pinheiro, the UN's special rapporteur for human rights, plans to visit Myanmar's prisons and try to determine how many people were killed in the crackdown by military leaders on protesters in September.
"If they don't give me full co-operation, I'll go to the plane, and I'll go out," Pinheiro said before his arrival in Yangon on Sunday.

Human rights groups have called on Pinheiro to demand the release of all political prisoners, including those arrested after the protests in September.

Myanmar's government has said 10 people died and around 3,000 were detained in the pro-democracy protests - the biggest in nearly two decades - which sparked international outcry and calls for reforms in the country.

Call to release inmates

But Amnesty International estimates 700 political prisoners remain in detention, including 91 detained during the recent protests, and are demanding they all be released.

Your Views

"Until the generals' military hardware is crumbled, they won't listen to anyone" Oomlwin, Yangon, Myanmar Send us your views

The human rights group has also accused the Myanmar authorities of being behind the disappearance of at least 72 people.

The authorities must "immediately and unconditionally release all of those who were arrested for exercising their right to freedom or expression or assembly during the crackdown, as well as all prisoners of conscience held before the recent events," the group demanded.

Meanwhile Human Rights Watch, the New York-based organization, said the UN security council should "redouble efforts to prod Burma's [Myanmar's] generals into starting a genuine political dialogue and ending human rights abuses".

Both groups called on Myanmar's military leaders to co-operate with Pinheiro, who had been barred from visiting the country since November 2003, and give him full and free access to political prisoners.

'Progress made'

Pinheiro's visit comes days after a mission by Ibrahim Gambari, the UN special envoy, who met Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's detained opposition leader who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest in Yangon.

Gambari's visit ended with the UN declaring that progress had been made, and Aung San Suu Kyi later met a junta official and members of her political party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

Nyan Win, the NLD spokesman, said they were hoping for a visit at their Yangon headquarters from Pinheiro.

"We expect to meet him but we have not heard anything from the authorities," he said.

Pinheiro, who leaves Myanmar on Thursday, will travel to Naypyidaw, the isolated new capital, on Monday, a Myanmar government official said.

Analysts and residents appear divided over whether the Friday's meetings represent a step towards real change in Myanmar, or if it was just a move by the military leaders to appease the international community.

Source: Agencies

SUU KYI TO MEET POLITICAL ALLIES

Ms Suu Kyi said she hoped for meaningful dialogue with the junta



Burma's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is to meet political allies, amid signs of an emerging dialogue process with the junta.

The Nobel laureate, who is under house arrest in Rangoon, will hold her first talks in three years with the leaders of her National League for Democracy.

She will also hold a second meeting with government go-between Aung Kyi.

The talks come a day after Ms Suu Kyi said she would work with the military junta to achieve constructive dialogue.

"In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to co-operate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success," she said.

Her statement was delivered by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, ending a second visit to Burma since troops brutally suppressed anti-government protests in September.

He spent six days in the country but failed to meet top leader General Than Shwe.

'Meaningful dialogue'

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won polls in 1990 but was never allowed to take power. The junta has kept her under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.

We now have a process going which would lead to substantive dialogue between the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi UN statement

Her written statement, read to reporters by Mr Gambari, was her first public comment since her latest round of detention began in May 2003.

Ms Suu Kyi welcomed Aung Kyi's appointment as a go-between and described the first meeting between the two, on 25 October, as constructive.

But she called for preliminary consultations to conclude soon, to make way for a "meaningful and time-bound dialogue" with Burma's leaders.

State television announced yesterday that Ms Suu Kyi would be allowed to hold the two meetings today. She has not met members of her own party since May 2004.

Meanwhile, a UN statement issued at the end of Mr Gambari's visit said that progress had been made.

"We now have a process going which would lead to substantive dialogue between the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a key instrument in promoting national reconciliation," it said.

But correspondents have expressed doubt over the government's commitment to a genuine process of dialogue aimed at reform.

The goal of such a dialogue process would be movement towards multi-party democracy - something in which Burma's generals have shown minimal interest.

"I find it very difficult to trust them. I hope this is not some new ploy," a roadside book seller in Rangoon told Reuters news agency.

And in the early stages of Mr Gambari's visit, there were unpromising signs.

Firstly, the UN envoy was not allowed a meeting with top General Than Shwe, and then Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, in a meeting with Mr Gambari, accused the international community of bullying Burma.

Mr Gambari is to return to Burma in the next few weeks, the UN statement said.

MYANMAR STANDOFF APPEARSTO SOFTEN

Xinhua/Associated Pres

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met Thursday with Ibrahim Gambari, an envoy from the United Nations, in Yangon, Myanmar.

By THOMAS FULLER

Published: November 9, 2007

BANGKOK, Friday, Nov. 9 — In a surprising break from years of deadlock in Myanmar, the pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she was ready to “cooperate” with the government, and the ruling junta said on state television that she would be allowed to meet with the leadership of her political party, something that has not happened in at least three years.

“In the interest of the nation, I stand ready to cooperate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success,” Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi said in a statement read in Singapore by the United Nations special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari. He had just concluded a six-day mission to the country.

The junta also said Thursday that its liaison, General Aung Kyi, would meet with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, their second meeting since his appointment last month. As late as Tuesday, a spokesman for the junta said she must abandon her support for sanctions against Myanmar before more talks could take place.

The moves appeared to represent a small but possibly significant step toward reconciliation between the sides, which have been at loggerheads since 1990, when Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party overwhelmingly won in elections. The junta ignored the results and placed her under house arrest, where she has spent 12 of the last 18 years.

Some analysts said the violent suppression of demonstrations in September, especially the crackdown on peacefully protesting monks, had weakened the government’s standing and might have created an opening for a gradual return to democracy. “This could be the beginning of an orderly change process,” said Zarni, a visiting research fellow at Oxford University. “In terms of real substantive change there is no other way than evolutionary.”

Mr. Zarni, who goes by one name, says he has noticed signs of a change in the ruling generals’ attitude toward Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi. For years, he said, the state-controlled media called her Daw Suu Kyi, omitting the part of her name that refers to her father, Aung San, the revolutionary hero revered by the Burmese Army as its founder. Now they use her full name.

Far-reaching or superficial, the seeming easing of tension between the junta and Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi seems to be at least partly engineered by Mr. Gambari, who issued his own statement on Thursday saying he had established a “process” that would “lead to substantive dialogue” between her and the generals.

The progress came at the end of a trip that showed few signs of success. Mr. Gambari bowed to the junta’s demands that Charles Petrie, the highest-ranking United Nations official in Myanmar, leave the country. Mr. Petrie, who said he would leave by the end of the month, angered the ruling generals in October by saying that Myanmar’s humanitarian situation was deteriorating.

And the military leadership appeared to snub Mr. Gambari. He was denied a meeting with the country’s top general, Than Shwe, and his initiatives were rejected, including the suggestion that he directly broker talks between Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and representatives of the junta.

Mr. Gambari was lectured by the country’s information minister, Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, and the minutes of their meetings were published in The New Light of Myanmar, the government mouthpiece.

General Kyaw Hsan accused Mr. Gambari of being biased in favor of Western powers, suggested he was ignorant of Myanmar’s history, declared his previous visit did not bear fruit and warned, “It would be a very serious mistake if Myanmar’s affair is viewed superficially.” He demanded that Mr. Gambari “play a leading role in organizing and persuading others to relieve and lift sanctions” on Myanmar.

The attacks on the United Nations’ mediation efforts, which took up over two pages of the Wednesday edition of The New Light of Myanmar, led some analysts to question whether the government was serious about moving toward democracy.

Aung Din, a former Burmese student activist who is now policy director of the United States Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based lobbying group, said he believed that the ruling generals were sensing a rift between the United States, which is pressing for a harder stance against them, and some European countries that are currently debating whether the government should be offered enticements like financial assistance for reform.

“They know to play a game to divide the international community,” Mr. Aung Din said.

Mr. Gambari is returning to New York to report to the Security Council and says he plans on returning to Myanmar several weeks from now.

David Steinberg, director of Asian Studies at Georgetown University, says future missions may have more urgency because the government lost legitimacy in the eyes of many people in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country when it reacted violently to the peaceful protests by monks.

“They can’t go back to where they were before — this is a watershed crisis, a different kind,” Mr. Steinberg said. “The frustrations in the populace are cumulative. The next crisis is going to be more bloody, more difficult. Unless there are changes within that government, you’re going to have real trouble.”

UN ENVOY TELLS MYANMAR JUNTA MAINTAING POWER IS UNACCEPTABLE.

By Michael Heath

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari told Myanmar's military junta that trying to maintain power after a crackdown on pro-democracy protests that left as many as 110 people dead and hundreds detained was unacceptable.

Gambari told Prime Minister General Thein Sein ``a return to the status quo before the crisis would not be sustainable, and suggested specific steps for Myanmar to meet international expectations,'' UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said yesterday.

These include immediate dialogue with the opposition and the establishment of a poverty alleviation commission, Gambari said during a meeting in the capital, Naypyidaw, according to the UN Web site. Senior General Than Shwe hasn't met with the envoy, who is on his second visit to Myanmar since the crackdown.

The military, which has ruled the country formerly known as Burma since 1962, has faced global condemnation since it deployed security forces Sept. 26 to break up the biggest anti- government protests in almost 20 years. The UN Security Council issued a statement deploring the violence and President George W. Bush imposed additional sanctions.

The meeting with Thein Sein yesterday came a day after the junta rejected three-way talks involving Gambari, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Labor Minister U Aung Kyi, who the junta appointed last month to liaise with her, Agence France- Presse reported.

``Currently the tripartite meeting will not be possible,'' Information Minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan said, AFP cited local media as saying yesterday.

Gambari will meet with Suu Kyi today when he returns to the former capital, Yangon, where the Nobel Peace Prize winner remains under house arrest, the UN said.

Results Rejected

Suu Kyi, 62, has spent 12 years in detention since the junta rejected the results of elections in 1990 won by her National League for Democracy party.

Information Minister Kyaw Hsan criticized Gambari, according to AFP, saying the envoy's earlier visit ``did not bear fruit as we had expected,'' after it was followed by new U.S. sanctions.

Bush, in an Oct. 19 executive order, gave the Treasury Department authority to impose sanctions on individuals responsible for human rights abuses and corruption in Myanmar, as well as those who help them or the government. Bush also warned Myanmar that further sanctions would come if the regime failed to ease repression.

The information minister said Myanmar wouldn't tolerate ``interference'' in its affairs and won't bow to external threats, according to AFP.

Anti-government protests in Myanmar began in August, when the government doubled some fuel prices.

Thein Sein travels to Vietnam tomorrow and is also due to represent Myanmar at the Association of South East Asian Nations meeting in Singapore Nov. 20.

The 10-member bloc earlier expressed ``revulsion'' at the crackdown and demanded Myanmar resolve the crisis peacefully. During a tour of the region last month, Gambari called Asean to do more to promote democracy in Myanmar.

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net

Burmese Government Rejects Call for UN-Brokered Talks With Opposition
By VOA News 07 November 2007

Myanmarese Prime Minster, General Thein Sein, receiving United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari (L) in the capital city Naypyidaw, 07 Nov 2007

Burma's military government has rejected a United Nations special envoy's call for U.N.-brokered talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.



The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, is on his second visit to Burma since a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in September.

State media say a Burmese official told Gambari that holding the proposed talks with Aung San Suu Kyi is impossible, and that Burma will not bow to outside pressure.

The protests, which were led by Buddhist monks, were triggered by rising fuel prices but grew into large pro-democracy demonstrations. A U.N. statement issued in New York said Gambari has warned Burmese officials against what he called "a return to the status quo."

Gambari is scheduled to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy Thursday.

The party won elections in Burma in 1990 by a landslide, but the military never agreed to hand over power.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

Burma 'rejects UN mediation plan' BBC News

Mr Gambari has not yet met Than Shwe during this visit

Burma's ruling generals have
rejected a UN plan for three-way talks involving detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, according to state media.


Minister Kyaw Hsan told UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari that Burma would not accept interference in its sovereignty.

Mr Gambari arrived in Burma on Saturday for his second visit since protests in September were brutally suppressed.

BBC UN correspondent Laura Trevelyan says diplomats privately admit omens for Mr Gambari's mission are not good.

Publicly, UN officials are saying they cannot confirm the junta's decision to reject the talks proposal, according to our correspondent.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern at the lack of progress being made with the junta.

On a previous visit, he held talks separately with junta head General Than Shwe and Ms Suu Kyi.

Although he is expected to meet Ms Suu Kyi again before concluding his visit on Thursday, Mr Ban said there had been no further meeting with General Than.

'Bullies' jibe

During a meeting with Information Minister Mr Kyaw, Mr Gambari reportedly offered to mediate in talks between Ms Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi - a junta official who was appointed to liaise with Ms Suu Kyi.

According to the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, Mr Kyaw told him: "Currently, the tripartite meeting will not be possible."

The paper, which is a mouthpiece for the junta, carried a four-page article addressed to Mr Gambari from Mr Kyaw which it called a "clarification".

"We will welcome positive co-ordination and co-operation for Myanmar [Burma] affairs, but will never accept any interference that may harm our sovereignty," the article stated.

"I would like you to know that Myanmar is a small nation and if a big power bullies her with its influence by putting Myanmar's affairs on UNSC [UN Security Council], we will have no other way but to face and endure."

Widespread protests broke out across Burma during September. In response, the military regime detained at least 3,000 people and opened fire on crowds, with dozens feared dead.

On Wednesday, the Burmese authorities said all but 91 of those detained in the aftermath of the protests had now been freed.

Human rights groups say at least 600 are still in jail.

UN SAYS BURMA TALKS MAKE NO PROGESS

BREAKING NEWS
Bangkok Post

New York (dpa) - UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's visit to Myanmar has not made progress in talks with the military regime in that country, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.

Bambari arrived in Yangon Saturday with Ban's instructions to seek democratic reform, engage in dialogue with detained political opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and national leader Than Shwe, and to seek the release of political prisoners and detained pro-democracy marchers.

But at UN headquarters, Ban told reporters: "I am concerned at this time about the lack of progress. He has not been able to meet with Senior General Than Shwe."

Gambari was scheduled to meet Wednesday with Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy, who has been under house arrest for more than 10 years for demanding democracy.

Gambari visited Myanmar in September at the height of the demonstrations led by Buddhist monks. He was allowed back by Yangon to continue his diplomatic mission.

A UN press release from Yangon said Gambari met Tuesday with several government ministers and offered "advice on ways by which Myanmar is expected to make concrete progress in areas of concern by the international community."

It said Gambari discussed with the newly appointed Constitution Drafting Commission "the need to broaden the constitutional process in order for it to reflect the views of all those who have not participated in the process so far."

The UN has been urging the military government to include all parts of society in the discussion of a new constitution and national reconciliation.

UN ENVOY PRESSED FOR RESULTS IN MYANMAR TALKS

UN ENVOY PRESSED FOR RESULTS IN MYANMAR TALKS


YANGON (AFP) — UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari met Myanmar's information minister Tuesday as the United States pressed for concrete results from his mission aimed at pushing the junta towards democracy.

Gambari was due later Tuesday to meet the country's religion and economic development ministers, but officials were tight-lipped as to whether he would be granted time with powerful junta head Than Shwe.

It is Gambari's second mission to Myanmar since a junta crackdown killed at least 13 protesters in late September, and he is under pressure to come away from his trip with concrete results.

"Now he is meeting with the information minister Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan," a Myanmar government official told AFP.

Gambari is also due Wednesday to meet detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon.

The United States said Monday it wanted the junta to hold direct dialogue with the opposition and move towards freeing about 1,000 political prisoners, arrested both before and after recent protests.

"It will not be sufficient for the United States if we see a series of meetings but no actual improvement in the conditions for the Burmese (Myanmar) people," US Assistant Secretary of State Kristen Silverberg said in Bangkok.

The United States has also upped diplomatic pressure on Myanmar's Asian allies, pressing members of regional bloc the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sever financial ties with the junta.

"We believe that there are regime officials with accounts in Singapore and in other governments, and we hope that the countries will ensure that their financial institutions are not being used as sanctuary for Burmese officials," Silverberg told reporters.

The United Nations has given little indication of how Gambari's meetings are going, and the trip has taken place amid tensions between the world body and Myanmar.

Gambari's mission has been overshadowed by the junta's decision last week to expel the top UN diplomat based in the country, Charles Petrie, saying he had misrepresented the humanitarian situation.

A UN statement late Monday said the special envoy met Foreign Minister Nyan Win for a second time, and discussed the future of the United Nations country team here.

No mention was made of Petrie. A UN official told AFP on Monday that Petrie had travelled to meet Gambari in the capital Naypyidaw.

Gambari has also held talks with members of Myanmar's many ethnic groups, Red Cross officials and Aung Kyi, the labour minister whom the junta appointed last month as a pointman to liaise with Aung San Suu Kyi.

Discussions have so far taken place in Naypyidaw, the isolated new capital that the generals built in the scrub of central Myanmar in 2005.

Gambari is due Wednesday to meet Prime Minister Thein Sein, before heading back to the former capital Yangon for talks with the opposition.

He is likely to meet members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party Aung San Suu Kyi led to a storming election victory in 1990, but which was never allowed to govern.

The pro-democracy protests began in mid-August after a massive hike in the price of everyday fuel, but escalated into the biggest threat to the generals in nearly 20 years when Buddhist monks emerged at the forefront.