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Nearly 3,000 Detained in Burma    [

    Myanmar Junta Won't Back Down Despite Mounting Pressure
    Agence France-Presse

    Wednesday 17 October 2007

    Yangon - Myanmar's military junta Tuesday shrugged off international steps to punish the regime for its bloody crackdown on protests, even as Japan cut aid and European nations widened sanctions.

    State media insisted there were no political prisoners in the country, and criticised a UN Security Council statement that slammed the violence used to quell the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades.

    The response came amid growing international pressure on the regime to halt its repression and launch talks with the pro-democracy opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

    Japan, one of Myanmar's main donors, said Tuesday it was cancelling grants of about 4.7 million dollars over the fatal shooting of a Japanese journalist when security forces put down last month's huge protests.

    On Monday, European Union foreign ministers approved a new set of sanctions against the junta including an embargo on the export of wood, gems and metals, and threatened further penalties.

    US President George W. Bush, whose country has imposed targeted sanctions against junta leaders, called for "enormous international pressure, to make it clear to the generals that they will be completely isolated and not accepted into the international community."

    But Myanmar vowed to resist, saying via the state media: "We will march on. There is no reason to change the course."

    "We will remove all the hindrances and obstacles that may lie ahead," the official New Light of Myanmar daily said.

    The newspaper criticised last week's Security Council statement deploring the crackdown and calling for the release of political prisoners.

    "The situation in Myanmar does not constitute a threat to regional and international peace and security," it said.

    "In reality, there is no one in Myanmar who is in prison for political reasons. There are only those against whom action has been taken in violation of the existing laws."

    It added: "Anti-government groups inside and outside the nation are making and exaggerating fabricated news to create public panic."

    Last month's protests led by Buddhist monks drew up to 100,000 people onto the streets in what escalated into the most potent threat to the regime since student-led demonstrations were crushed in 1988.

    But they were violently broken up by troops and riot police in an operation that left at least 13 people dead and more than 2,000 locked up.

    The United Nations sent trouble-shooter Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar after the crackdown to meet junta chief Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Yangon.

    Gambari returned to the region Monday for a multi-nation tour aimed at building pressure on the regime, saying in Bangkok that reports of further arrests of activists were "extremely disturbing."

    He travelled on Tuesday to Malaysia, where he said he planned to pass on a message from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on how neighbouring countries and the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) could help ease the crisis.

    Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said ASEAN could help foster dialogue between Myanmar and the United Nations, but warned the regional bloc would not suspend the country's membership.

    "If you want Myanmar to continue to be engaged, first we should not be talking about suspending. Nobody can talk when you are threatening with all sorts of things," he told reporters.

    Thailand has proposed multiparty talks with Myanmar, which would include the generals, giant neighbours China and India, as well as ASEAN.

    After leaving Malaysia, Gambari is set to fly on to Indonesia, India, China and Japan. He has said he aims to return to Myanmar by mid-November but hopes the junta will allow him to visit sooner.

    Since the start of October, Than Shwe has made a heavily conditioned offer of direct talks with Aung San Suu Kyi provided she drops support for sanctions and ends "confrontational" policies.

    The regime has also eased its curfew and restored Internet access that had been cut off during the protests.

    At the same time, security forces have kept up the pressure on dissidents, arresting six more activists at the weekend, according to rights group Amnesty International.

    Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy - which won elections in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern - said any dialogue with the junta would be jeopardised if the regime continued to hunt down activists.

 

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    Nearly 3,000 Detained in Myanmar
    The Associated Press

    Wednesday 17 October 2007

    Yangon, Myanmar - Myanmar's military junta acknowledged Wednesday that it detained nearly 3,000 people during a crackdown on recent pro-democracy protests, with hundreds still remaining in custody.

    The official statement on the front-page of The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece, said authorities were still hunting for demonstrators who took part in the recent uprising.

    "Those who led, got involved in and supported the unrest which broke out in September were called in and are being interrogated," the junta said. "Some are still being called in for questioning and those who should be released will be."

    The statement said that 2,927 people had been arrested since the crackdown started and nearly 500 were still in custody.

    In their last tally of arrests, the junta said that nearly 2,100 had been detained.

    Everyone released from custody was required to sign "pledges" the statement said, without elaborating.

    The announcement came a day after Japan canceled a multimillion dollar grant to protest the bloody crackdown and U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari pressed Asian nations Tuesday to take the lead in resolving the crisis.

    China, which has been uncooperative in past efforts to pressure Myanmar's military rulers, said it supported Gambari's mission. As Myanmar's closest ally and a permanent member of the Security Council, China is considered key in pushing for change in the Southeast Asian nation.

    Japan had already said it would suspend some assistance in response to the death of Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, among at least 10 people killed when troops fired into crowds of peaceful protesters during the Sept. 26-27 crackdown. Video footage of Nagai's death appeared to show a soldier shooting the journalist at close range on the streets of Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city.

    In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Tuesday that the government was canceling a grant worth $4.7 million for a business education center slated for the Yangon University campus.

    In fiscal year 2006, Japan provided grants and technical assistance totaling $26.1 million to Myanmar, according to the latest ministry figures.

    Machimura said the decision was in response to the crackdown and followed a U.N. statement condemning the violence. The U.N. Security Council issued its first-ever statement on Myanmar last week, condemning the junta's actions and calling for the release of all political prisoners.

    Gambari was in Malaysia seeking help from Asian nations to resolve the crisis in Myanmar. The U.N. wants the junta to start negotiations with Suu Kyi.

    In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Yang told reporters at the 17th congress of the ruling communist party that Myanmar's recent calm after last month's violence was "the result of hard work and cooperation from all sides."

    Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations would fully support Gambari's negotiation efforts. But he ruled out sanctions.

    Christopher Hill, one of Washington's top diplomats on Asia, said that China and the ASEAN should use their influence to help fix the "atrocious situation" in Myanmar.

    Earlier this month, Gambari met with the junta's leader, Gen. Than Shwe, to convey the world's outrage. He also met twice with Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

    But Myanmar's military leaders have rebuffed calls for reforms, saying the only way to bring change is to follow the junta's seven-step "road map" to democracy, which is supposed to culminate with elections at an unspecified date.

    So far, only the plan's first stage - drawing up guidelines for a new constitution - has been completed, and that took more than a decade. Critics say the road map is a ruse to allow the military to stay in power.