• 
• 

Published on October 5, 2007

Shari Villarosa, head of the US mission in Burma, will travel from Rangoon to Naypyidaw for the talks, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The regime launched a violent response to end weeks of protests throughout the country, with an official death toll of 10. But activists and observers belive the number of dead could be much higher.

Burma's military rulers Thursday accused foreigners of trying to destroy the country while soldiers reportedly carried out nocturnal raids to snare people suspected of joining last month's pro-democracy uprising.

Meanwhile, in New York, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said he could not describe the trip of Ibrahim Gambari, his envoy, to Burma as a success in spite of delivering "the strongest possible message" about the junta's bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.

China, Burma's closest ally, praised the meeting between junta leader Senior General Than Shwe and Gambari, and appealed to all parties in the country to remain calm and resume stability "as soon as possible".

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement that Beijing has "made its own efforts to support the UN secretary-general and his special envoy's negotiations." It did not elaborate.

In Tokyo, where an autopsy was being conducted on the body of a Japanese journalist, Kenji Nagai, shot during the military crackdown last week, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said his government was considering cutting aid to Burma.

Nagai's coffin, bearing a bouquet of flowers, arrived back in Japan earlier in the day from Rangoon via Bangkok, accompanied by his employer.

In Rangoon, soldiers maintained a visible presence on the streets where an eerie quiet has returned after last month's deadly crackdown on the biggest anti-regime rebellion in nearly two decades.

With Internet access to the outside world blocked, state-controlled newspapers churned out the government's version of the country's crisis and filled pages with propaganda slogans, such as "We favour stability. We favour peace", and "We oppose unrest and violence".

Critics from the international community and foreign media were dismissed as "liars attempting to destroy the nation".

A foreign aid worker said his staff had told him that soldiers are continuing to raid homes at night to arrest people who took part in the demonstration. But neighbours are alerting each other if they see troops coming, he said. He had no other details.

This could not be independently confirmed but dissident groups have said that up to 6,000 people have been arrested since troops put down the uprising on September 26 and 27 when they opened fire on crowds.

The government says 10 people were killed but dissident groups say up to 200 people died in the crackdown on demonstrators who were largely led by Buddhist monks.

Several amateur photographers, who took photos of the protests and crackdown and posted them on Internet sites, have also been detained, sources said.

A UN Development Programme employee, Myint Nwe Moe, and her husband, brother-in-law and driver were freed yesterday, a day after being arrested, said Charles Petrie, the UN humanitarian chief in Burma. He did not give details.

Some of the world's best-known novelists, poets and artists of Asian heritage signed an open letter calling on the Burmese junta to stop its repressive campaign.

Among the signers were novelists Maxine Hong Kingston, author of "The Woman Warrior", Michael Ondaatje ("The English Patient"), Amitav Ghosh ("The Glass Palace") and Le Ly Hayslip ("When Heaven and Earth Changed Places").

"We demand an immediate end to the violence against protesters and a release of all political prisoners," said the letter, naming detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Agencies

Rangoon