• 
• 

Published on October 6, 2007

Burmese opposition figures yesterday lashed out at the military government's offer to talk to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing them of buying time even as the US envoy was granted permission to meet regime leaders.

While Than Shwe, the top general, is known to despise Suu Kyi, Burma's state-run media said late on Thursday that he was willing to meet the Nobel Peace Prize winner if she ends her support for sanctions against the regime.

A spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD), Nyan Win, said it was for Suu Kyi to decide, and added that she might consider it "in a positive light".

But another senior NLD member, Thein Lwin, scoffed at Than Shwe's condition.

Suu Kyi "does not have a confrontational attitude, nor does she encourage sanctions", he said.

Asked if he expected her to accept the junta's terms for talks, he replied, "We'll have to wait and see."

Exiled Burmese MP Dr Sann Aung said he was not optimistic that the offer would lead to a meaningful outcome and thought the junta was buying time.

"The junta will have to prove themselves with deeds, not just words. They have a strong history of lies," Sann Aung said.

He urged the Thai government to review its gas purchase deal with Burma. In 2005, Thailand spent US$1 billion (Bt34.2 billion) billion and $2 billion in 2006.

"So it is not China that has the economic leverage on Burma - it's the Thais," Sann Aung told the Nation-produced television programme "World Pulse", to be aired on Monday evening on Modernine TV.

He said the Burmese junta has to spell out in real terms what would be on the negotiating table, not make some gesture through its state-run press.

Sann Aung also urged Thai authorities to accept Burmese fleeing the violence at home as refugees and provide them shelter. "They are the victims, not the perpetrators," he said.

Maung Maung, a member of a self-styled Burmese government-in-exile in Bangkok, described Than Shwe's offer as a public relations stunt ahead of the UN Security Council meeting.

"If they really want to talk, she needs to be released first so she has freedom of association and freedom of speech to engage in a dialogue," he told reporters.

Burmese monk Pra Kumara, interviewed yesterday in the TV programme with Nation Group Editor in Chief Suthichai Yoon, said the Buddhist Sangha in his country "stands with the people" and added, "whatever affected the people affected the monks".

Speaking on a separately taped segment of the same programme yesterday, Bangkok-based ambassadors from China, the United States and the United Kingdom agreed that all parties in Burma needed to sit together to achieve national reconciliation.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jiuhuan said all sides must engage in dialogue for national reconciliation and democracy. He pointed out that contrary to press reports, China had adjusted its position to keep up with the changed environment.

US Ambassador Ralph Boyce and UK Ambassador Quinton Quayle concurred that to end the conflict in Burma and move towards national reconciliation, all parties should get involved.

They both stressed that Suu Kyi and other political prisoners must be released and the Burmese people should be allowed to express themselves without any suppression.

The three envoys agreed that the visit by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari was a good starting point to engage the Burmese junta.

Separately, exiled Burmese activists told a press conference in Bangkok that unprecedented Buddhist monk-led protests ignited a fire among long-suffering Burmese that will not be easily extinguished, but the international community must pressure the military regime to avoid further bloodshed.

"Many people are saying the Burmese revolt is over, but that is not true," said Naing Aung of the Forum for Democracy in Burma.

"A movement that brought out one million people willing to defy bullets cannot easily disappear."

Leaders of several groups said the images of thousands of monks marching peacefully, and being beaten, had brought together both Burmese citizens and people around the world to stand up to the regime.

"Those two contradictory images of peace and brutality were powerful for the world to see, but this has been going on in Burma for the last 50 years, especially in the ethnic areas," said Salai Lian Sahkong of the Ethnic Nationalities Council.

"We have been suffering and dying and crying without the world knowing about it, but now the people of Burma are uniting, and we're saying: 'No more killing, no more beatings'."

Khin Ohmas, an advocate for political prisoners and a veteran of the mass 1988 democracy uprising that ended with a bloody crackdown, said the resurgent movement is stronger for past experiences and for the new leadership of the monks.

"When we were out in the streets, many people might have just seen us as rebellious kids - and, in a way, we were," she said. "But now people see that the monks are leading the way, and they represent the highest level of respect in our society."

The US chief of mission in Burma, Shari Villarosa, yesterday met Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint in Naypidaw, the regime's remote capital, about 385 kilometres north of Rangoon, a US Embassy official said.

She was expected to pass on a "very clear message" in her talks with the generals to start "meaningful" dialogue with the opposition, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Singapore Premier Lee Hsien Loong agreed to send some foreign ministers from Asean next month, a Thai government statement said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also said he would soon travel to the Southeast Asia region to press for change, while Brazil unveiled plans to send a team of observers.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, called on Burma to allow rights monitors to enter the country, pointing to "pretty alarming" signs of abuses.

In Rangoon, state media gave new figures on Thursday for the number of people arrested during last week's bloody assault by troops. The reports said nearly 2,100 people had been detained, with almost 700 already released.

The government has said 10 people were killed when security forces broke up the mass demonstrations, but dissident groups put the death toll at up to 200 and say 6,000 people were detained, including thousands of Buddhist monks who were leading the protests.

Agencies, The Nation

Rangoon