UN Envoy Meets with Junta Leader
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YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar’s top military leader met today with a U.N. envoy to discuss the nation’s political crisis that has seen the largest protests in two decades crushed with deadly force by government troops.
Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.’s special envoy to Myanmar, met with Senior General Than Shwe in the junta’s remote new capital, Naypyitaw, two foreign diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity citing protocol. No details of the meeting were available.
While Mr. Gambari was trying to broker peace, the junta’s security forces lightened their presence in Yangon, the country’s main city, which remained quiet after troops and police brutally quelled mass protests last week. The 9 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew was scaled back to 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were slain and 6,000 detained in the crackdown, compared to the regime’s report of 10 deaths.
“Normalcy has now returned in Myanmar,” Foreign Minister Nyan Win told the U.N. General Assembly in New York, adding that security forces acted with restraint for a month but had to “take action to restore the situation.”
Mr. Nyan Win made no reference to the deaths. Instead, he blamed foreigners for the violence.
“Recent events make clear that there are elements within and outside the country who wish to derail the ongoing process (toward democracy) so that they can take advantage of the chaos that would follow,” Mr. Nyan Win said.
“They have become more and more emboldened and have stepped up their campaign to confront the government,” he said. “The destiny of each and every country can only be determined by its government and people,” he said. “It cannot be imposed from outside.”
Mr. Nyan Win’s comments indicated that the junta would not give up its hardline position and is willing to thumb its nose at international demands to restore democracy and free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr. Gambari, a former Nigerian foreign minister, has been in the country since Saturday and met with Ms. Suu Kyi in Sunday. But General Than Shwe, who is notoriously difficult to meet with, did not make himself available until today. Mr. Gambari is scheduled to leave later today.
U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said Mr. Gambari would urge the junta “to cease the repression of peaceful protest, release detainees, and move more credibly and inclusively in the direction of democratic reform, human rights and national reconciliation.”
Opposition groups placed little hope on Mr. Gambari’s visit.
“It will not be a fruitful visit unless he manages to arrange a meeting between Suu Kyi and Than Shwe,” said Zinn Linn, a spokesman of the self-styled Myanmar government in exile in Bangkok. “His mission is very weak. He should do more than this.”
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said America wanted to see Mr. Gambari convey a clear message that the junta must start “a serious political dialogue.”
He said that included talking with Ms. Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate who has been under house arrest for nearly 12 of the last 18 years.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a much larger pro-democracy movement in which about 3,000 people are believed to have been killed. The generals called elections in 1990 but refused to give up power when Ms. Suu Kyi’s party won.
Simmering anger against the junta exploded in mid-August after it hiked fuel prices as much as 500 percent. The anti-price hike marches soon ballooned into mass demonstrations led by Buddhist monks.
Opposition groups say several thousand people were arrested in the latest crackdown, which reached its peak on Sept. 26 and 27 when troops opened fire on unarmed demonstrators. Among the dead was a Japanese television cameraman, Kenji Nagai of APF news agency.
Today, the head of APF, Toru Yamaji, laid white chrysanthemums at the site where Nagai was gunned down in Yangon. He then kneeled at the site and prayed.
“The people are angry but afraid. Many are poor and struggling in life so they don’t join the protests anymore. The monks are weak because they were subjected to attacks,” said Theta, a 30-year-old university graduate who drives a taxi and gave only his first name.
Hundreds of detained demonstrators including monks dragged out of monasteries were reported held in makeshift prisons at old factories, a race track and universities around Yangon. It was impossible to independently verify the reports in the tightly controlled nation.
Today, the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said a number of pro-government rallies took place yesterday across the country. People held placards that read “We Favor Stability” and “Violent Protesters Are Our Enemy,” it said. Opposition groups say such rallies are stage-managed and that people are forced to attend.