Italy explores possible EU mission to Myanmar

AP

Posted: 2007-09-28 14:29:05

ROME (AP) – Italy is exploring a possible European Union mission to Myanmar as well as trying to persuade China, Russia and India to put pressure on Myanmar’s military regime, the foreign ministry said Friday.

The military government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has launched a violent crackdown on anti-government protests.

“The Italian government is exploring with the Portuguese presidency (of the EU) possibly dispatching a European Union mission in Myanmar to flank the mission of U.N. envoy (Ibrahim) Gambari,” Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Italy is also promoting a series of diplomatic actions aimed “particularly at India, Russia and China, so that these countries step up international pressure on the Burmese military junta,” said Italian foreign ministry undersecretary, Gianni Vernetti, in New York at the United Nations, according to the statement.

U.N. special envoy Gambari was headed to Myanmar to promote a political solution.

Vernetti was quoted as saying that the Italian government has renewed its condemnation of the military junta’s violent repression, “inviting it to immediately cease the violence and start dialogue with the forces of the democratic opposition.”

Italy’s foreign ministry said it was preparing measures of economic assistance for Burmese refuge camps in Thailand.
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UK’s Gordon Brown: loss of life in Myanmar has been ‘far greater’ than is being reported

AP

Posted: 2007-09-28 13:56:02

LONDON (AP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Friday the loss of life in Myanmar has been far greater than that country’s government had let on.

Myanmar’s government says 10 people have been killed since it began its violent crackdown on demonstrators participating in the largest anti-government protests since 1988.

Diplomats say the toll is likely much higher, but Brown did not offer a figure. Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.

“I am afraid we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported so far,” the prime minister said in a televised statement following telephone talks with U.S. President George W. Bush and the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

Earlier on Friday, Britain’s ambassador to Yangon, Mark Canning, had said the regime’s casualty estimate was probably wrong.

“A number of other observers say that the death rate could have been many multiples of that number,” he told British Broadcasting Corp. television.

Britain’s Foreign Office said the government’s information came from witnesses and people on the ground, but cautioned there was no way of confirming the reports because of the tight grip Myanmar’s military leaders kept on the country.

“Our embassy in Rangoon is confident that (the government figure) is an underestimate,” a Downing Street spokesman said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy. He refused to give an estimate, saying British diplomats could only guess at how many people had been killed because they were unsure what was happening outside the capital.

Brown called for EU sanctions to be levied against the regime, and demanded that the U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, be allowed to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

He condemned the ruling military junta’s crackdown on the protests and what he said were attempts to censor news of the protests.

“This cannot continue. The eyes of the world are not only upon them, but the anger of the world is now being expressed,” Brown said.

A dozen Burmese monks and about 200 activists and dissidents gathered outside Myanmar’s embassy in London, before moving on to the prime minister’s office nearby to demand the British government act quickly.

One of the demonstrators was U Uttara, the chief monk at a Burmese Buddhist temple in north London, who escaped to Britain while the military was hunting him for his role in organizing the 1988 pro-democracy protests.

After leading prayers for peace outside Myanmar’s embassy, he told reporters that he feared for the safety of his fellow monks back home.

“I’m scared, but even if we’re scared, we have to go ahead. This is our aim, we will get democracy in Burma,” he said. “Everybody who has freedom should help people who don’t.”

Associated Press Writer D’Arcy Doran contributed to this report.

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Satellite Images May Show Myanmar Abuses

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID,

AP

Posted: 2007-09-28 13:31:18

WASHINGTON (AP) – Satellite photos showing the disappearance of villages and a buildup of army camps offer what researchers say is potential evidence of human rights abuses in Myanmar , the scene of bloody anti-government protests that have drawn tens of thousands of demonstrators.

At least nine people were killed in Myanmar on Thursday, when soldiers with automatic rifles fired into the crowds. Troops in riot gear also raided Buddhist monasteries on the outskirts of Yangon and beat and arrested dozens of monks, according to witnesses and Western diplomats.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has become the focus of international pressure to curtail the violent repression of its citizens.

“We are trying to send a message to the military junta that we are watching from the sky,” Aung Din, policy director for the U.S. Campaign for Burma, said Friday at a briefing on the photos.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science said it has compiled satellite images that provide evidence of village destruction, forced relocations and a growing military presence at sites across eastern Myanmar.

Lars Bromley, director of the AAAS Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project, said he had received more than 70 reports of rights violations. He then sought before-and-after satellite photos of the regions from commercial firms.

“Physical evidence of reported attacks on civilians sometimes can be subtle compared to the slash-and-burn types of destruction that we saw in Darfur or Zimbabwe . It’s also a lush ecosystem where plants can quickly grow to cover burn marks and clouds and terrain often block satellite observation,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said he was able to map the locations of 31 of the reported human rights violations.

“Eighteen of the locations showed evidence consistent with destroyed or damaged villages,” he said in a statement. “We found evidence of expanded military camps in four other locations as well as multiple possibly relocated villages, and we documented growth in one refugee camp on the Thai border. All of this was very consistent with reporting by multiple human rights groups on the ground in Burma.”

“These things are happening over quite a range, it’s not just an isolated incident,” Bromley said.

“We’re not necessarily drawing conclusions about what happened to these villages, that comes form organizations we work with,” he explained.

But, for example, there were reports of attacks on villages in April and satellite images showed the blackened remains of burned villages.

In addition, the photos showed several new villages near military camps, indicating forced relocations.

Bromley said that since the demonstrations began in recent days satellites have been turned toward the major cities, but he noted that this is the cloudy season.

“We are hoping for a gap in the clouds,” he said.

Jeremy Woodrum, director of the interest group U.S. Campaign for Burma, said he considers the images good evidence of abuses.

“When you consider that a million and a half people have fled out of the area, I think it’s pretty clear,” he said. “Especially when combined with dozens and dozens of reports from human rights organizations.”

Satellite images showed multiple burn scars in otherwise thick green forest in the Papun district and before-and-after images showed the removal of structures, consistent with eyewitness reports of village destruction.

Signs of an expanded military presence, such as the buildup of bamboo fencing around a camp, and construction of a satellite camp, also were identified, Bromley said.

Buildup of military camps and disappearance of villages and buildings were also documented in the Toungoo and Dooplaya districts.

The military took control of Myanmar in 1962 and since then had regularly clashed with pro-democracy groups. Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, a democracy advocate, has been detained by the military for years.

The current crisis began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price hike. It escalated when monks began joining the protests.

President Bush announced economic sanctions against Myanmar on Thursday, and other countries have also condemned the actions.

First lady Laura Bush and Sen. Dianne Feinstein , D-Calif., have previously condemned human rights violations in Myanmar.

In a plea to Myanmar’s ruling military regime, Mrs. Bush said earlier this week, “I want to say to the armed guards and to the soldiers: Don’t fire on your people. Don’t fire on your neighbors.” Her remarks were in a Voice of America interview.

AAAS, a nonprofit general scientific society, previously used satellite technology to seek evidence of destruction in Darfur and Zimbabwe. The latest research was supported by the Open Society Institute and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

On the Net:

AAAS: http://www.aaas.org

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Myanmar’s deadly crackdown sparks global condemnation, regime faces new isolation

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN,

AP

Posted: 2007-09-28 14:50:39

BEIJING (AP) – Myanmar ’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators drew condemnation and sparked protests Friday, with the top U.S. diplomat in the reclusive nation calling the violence “tragic” and the European Union denouncing “gross and systematic violations of human rights.”

The United Nations said it will convene an emergency session on human rights abuses and dispatched an envoy to Myanmar who could arrive as early as Saturday. Britain demanded an end to “oppression and force” against the demonstrators.

Myanmar’s Asian neighbors expressed “revulsion” at the violence and urged the military rulers to seek a political solution. Japan said it had asked China to use its influence with junta to resolve the crisis. In neighboring Thailand, officials said airplanes were standing by to evacuate foreigners if conditions deteriorated further.

On Friday, soldiers clubbed activists in the streets and occupied Buddhist monasteries to try to put down the largest protests since 1988. The government said 10 people have been killed since Wednesday, although exile groups say the toll may be much higher.

Following telephone talks with U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said “we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported so far.”

The regime cut public Internet access, blocking one of the few avenues to get information about the protests out of the country where few foreign journalists are allowed to operate and media freedom is severely restricted. The junta has ignored international pleas for restraint.

“The military was out in force before they even gathered and moved quickly as small groups appeared breaking them up with gunfire, tear gas and clubs,” Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, told The Associated Press by phone.

“It’s tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very well-behaved,” she said.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told The Associated Press that ASEAN diplomats and Myanmar officials “have had a rough dialogue” on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week.

He said the response from Myanmar diplomats was muted, with no assurances that they will reverse the crackdown or engage in dialogue with the opposition.

The U.S. tightened sanctions on Myanmar, saying it would freeze any assets held by 14 top officials in the junta within U.S. jurisdiction, and banning U.S. citizens from doing business with them.

“Clearly the government of Burma, the regime there, is facing a population that does not want to suffer quietly under its rule anymore,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey in Washington.

“We are calling on them to do the right thing, to do what the people deserve and open a dialogue with them, with the legitimate political opposition, including to release those that they hold in detention and to start the long overdue process of national reconciliation and the creation of a country in which all Burmese are free to participate.”

The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, headed to the country to promote a political solution and could arrive as early as Saturday, one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

In Geneva, diplomats said the U.N. Human Rights Council said they would call an emergency session on Myanmar on Tuesday after a petition led by Western countries gained the support of one third of the body’s 47 nations.

The European Union expressed “solidarity with the people of Myanmar,” saying they were exercising their rights of peaceful demonstration.

“We strongly condemn all violence against peaceful demonstrators,” an EU statement said, adding that European nations were “strongly concerned with the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Myanmar.”

The EU said peer pressure from neighboring countries was crucial to resolving the crisis. EU envoys are examining additional sanctions on Myanmar. The EU also urged the release of all political prisoners in Myanmar, also known as Burma, including opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who has been detained for about 12 of the past 18 years.

Italy’s foreign ministry said it is exploring a possible European Union mission to Myanmar while trying to persuade China, Russia and India to put pressure on Myanmar’s military regime.

“The Italian government is exploring with the Portuguese presidency (of the EU) possibly dispatching a European Union mission in Myanmar to flank the mission of U.N. envoy (Ibrahim) Gambari,” Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

Britain’s Brown praised the protesters and called for tougher EU sanctions.

“I had hoped that the Burmese regime would heed the calls for restraint from the international community. But once again they have responded with oppression and force. This must cease.”

Brown said he intended to speak about the crisis on Friday with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Bush .

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar is a member of, said it was “appalled” by the violence. “They expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win,” the group said in a statement Thursday in New York.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said he agreed in a phone call with his Chinese counterpart to work together on international efforts to solve the crisis.

“I asked that China, given its close ties with Myanmar, exercise its influence and Premier Wen said he will make such efforts,” Fukuda told reporters in Tokyo on Friday.

China is Myanmar’s main economic and political ally, while Japan is its largest aid donor.

Fukuda ruled out immediate sanctions against Myanmar in connection with the death of a Japanese journalist during the crackdown. Japan has said it would press Myanmar for an explanation of the death of 50-year-old APF News journalist Kenji Nagai on Thursday.

“Sanctions are not the best step to take now,” Fukuda told reporters.

The crackdown put China in a bind. It has developed close diplomatic ties with junta leaders and is a major investor in Myanmar. But with the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, China is eager to fend off criticism that it props up unpopular or abusive regimes.

China has so far refused to intervene, calling the protests an internal affair that did not threaten regional or global stability, the criteria for action by the U.N. Security Council.

Chinese officials say the international community may be overestimating China’s influence over the regime, echoing earlier statements by Chinese academics and diplomats.

On Wednesday, China refused to condemn Myanmar and ruled out imposing sanctions, but for the first time agreed to a U.N. Security Council statement expressing concern over the violent crackdown and urging the military rulers to allow in a U.N. envoy.

Russia expressed concern about the “continuing deterioration of the domestic political situation in Myanmar.”

In Malaysia’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur, about 2,000 Myanmar immigrants rallied peacefully outside their country’s embassy.

Smaller demonstrations against the junta took place in Thailand, Indonesia , Japan and the Philippines.

In London, a dozen Burmese monks led about 200 dissidents and activists in prayer at the door of Myanmar’s Embassy before marching to 10 Downing Street to demonstrate.
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Myanmar Cuts Internet, Seals Monasteries

AP

Posted: 2007-09-28 12:59:33

Filed Under: World News

YANGON, Myanmar (Sept. 28) — Soldiers clubbed and dragged away activists while firing tear gas and warning shots to break up demonstrations Friday before they could grow, and the government cut Internet access, raising fears that a deadly crackdown was set to intensify.

Photo Gallery: Struggle for Democracy

Sang Tan, AP

Demonstrators gather Friday outside the Myanmar Embassy in London show their support for anti-government protesters in the Southeast Asian nation.

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Troops also occupied Buddhist monasteries in a bid to clear the streets of Myanmar’s revered monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations.

The government said 10 people have been killed since the violence began earlier this week, but diplomats say the toll is likely much higher. Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.

Witnesses said security forces aggressively broke up a rally of about 2,000 people near the Sule Pagoda in the largest city, Yangon. About 20 trucks packed with soldiers arrived and announced over loudspeakers, “We give you 10 minutes to move out from the road. Otherwise we will fire.”

A group of about 10 people broke away from the main crowd and rushed toward a line of soldiers. They were beaten up, and five were seen being hauled away in a truck.

Soldiers dispersed the other protesters, beating them with clubs and firing shots in the air.

“People in this country are gentle and calm. (But) people are very angry now and they dare to do anything,” said a shopkeeper, who witnessed the clash and did not want to be named for fear of reprisal.

Elsewhere, riot police played cat-and-mouse with smaller groups of die-hard activists, sometimes shooting into the air.

The clash near the Sule Pagoda was the most serious of the several sporadic — though smaller — protests that were reported. Earlier Friday, soldiers and riot police dispersed a crowd of 300, sealing the surrounding neighborhood and ordering them to disperse. Elsewhere, they fired warning shots to scatter a group of 200.

By sealing monasteries, the government seemed intent on clearing the streets of the cinnamon-robed monks. This could embolden troops to crack down harder on remaining civilian protesters.

Efforts to squelch the demonstrations appeared to be working. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people had grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades, a crisis that began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in.

Security forces first moved against the anti-government protesters on Wednesday, when the first of the 10 deaths was reported. Images of bloodied protesters and fleeing crowds have riveted world attention on the escalating crisis, prompting many governments to urge the junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to end the violence.

But by Myanmar standards, the crackdown has so far been muted, in part because the regime knows that killing monks could trigger a maelstrom of fury.

The United States imposed new sanctions on the junta’s leaders, and the United Nations dispatched a special envoy, who is expected to arrive Saturday.

Bob Davis, Australia’s ambassador to Myanmar, said he had heard unconfirmed reports that “several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities” may have been killed by troops in Yangon. Scores have been arrested, carted away in trucks at night or pummeled with batons in recent days, witnesses and diplomats said, with the junta ignoring all international appeals for restraint.

The Washington-based dissident group, U.S. Campaign for Burma, said about 200 protesters were killed and scores more arrested and beaten. The bloodiest day was Thursday, when troops opened fire into a crowd.

“The military was out in force before they even gathered and moved quickly as small groups appeared breaking them up with gunfire, tear gas and clubs,” said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.

“It’s tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very well behaved.”

British Ambassador Mark Canning told BBC-TV that “there have been a lot of arrests,” with up to 50 people detained at one time.

Getting accurate casualty figures has been difficult, with residents too afraid to speak out and journalists barred from openly entering the country. Soldiers and police were going door-to-door in some hotels looking for foreigners.

The U.S. Embassy in Yangon urged any Americans still in Myanmar to avoid any demonstrations or marches, refrain from photographing any troops, and avoid traveling after a nighttime curfew takes effect.

Video emerged of a striking image — the shooting death Thursday of a man identified as Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai of the video agency APF News.

The Democratic Voice of Burma released video of security forces opening fire on protesters, including a man falling forward after apparently being shot at point-blank range, and the opposition shortwave radio station based in Norway said the victim was Nagai, 50.

Another image posted on the Web site of Japanese TV network Fuji showed Nagai lying in the street, camera still in hand, with a soldier pointing his rifle down at him.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemned new attempts by the military rulers to exert pressure on foreign journalists and the domestic media. The groups said security forces raided several Yangon hotels Thursday to check the IDs of foreign journalists.

The junta ordered the closure of several privately owned newspapers that refused to print government propaganda, the groups said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed “revulsion” at the violence in Myanmar and told the junta “to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution.” Demonstrations against the junta were seen in Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere.

Southeast Asian envoys were told by Myanmar authorities Friday that a no-go zone had been declared around five key Buddhist monasteries, one diplomat said, raising fears of a repeat of 1988, when troops gunned down thousands of peaceful demonstrators and imprisoned the survivors.

Gates were locked and key intersections near monasteries in Yangon and the second-largest city of Mandalay were sealed off with barbed wire, and there was no sign of monks in the streets.

“We were told security forces had the monks under control” and will now turn their attention to civilian protesters, the Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The government suspended the services of the two Internet service providers, BaganNet and Myanmar Post and Telecom, but big companies and embassies hooked up to the Web by satellite remained online. The Internet has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world in the past month.

Thursday was the most violent day in more than a month of protests — which at their height have brought an estimated 70,000 demonstrators to the streets. Bloody sandals lay scattered on some streets as protesters fled shouting “Give us freedom, give us freedom!”

Truckloads of troops in riot gear raided Buddhist monasteries on the outskirts of Yangon, beating and arresting dozens of monks, witnesses and Western diplomats said.

“I really hate the government. They arrest the monks while they are sleeping,” said a 30-year-old service worker who saw some of the confrontations from his workplace. “These monks haven’t done anything except meditating and praying and helping people.”

The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, headed to the country to promote a political solution and could arrive as early as Saturday, one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Though some analysts said negotiations were unlikely, the diplomat said the decision to let Gambari in “means they may see a role for him and the United Nations in mediating dialogue with the opposition and its leaders.”

The protesters won support from countrymen abroad as more than 2,000 Myanmar immigrants rallied peacefully in Malaysia and smaller demonstrations against the junta took place in Thailand, Indonesia , Japan and the Philippines.

China, Myanmar’s largest trading partner, for months quietly counseled the regime to speed up long-stalled political reforms. Some analysts say Beijing would hate to be viewed as party to a bloodbath as it prepares for the 2008 Olympics.

“China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing Thursday.

But every other time the regime has been challenged, it has responded with force.

“Judging from the nature and habit of the Myanmar military, they will not allow the monks or activists to topple them,” said Chaiyachoke Julsiriwong, a Myanmar scholar at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.