U.N. Envoy Arrives In Myanmar

Ibrahim Gambari Hopes To Promote Political Solution In Wake Of Violent Military Crackdown

(AP) 
Images of bloodied protesters and fleeing crowds have riveted world attention on the escalating crisis, prompting many governments to urge the junta to end the violence.

Myanmar's main political and economic allies, China and Japan, joined other nations around the world in urging the country to use peaceful means to restore stability. The United States called on "all civilized nations" to press Myanmar's leaders to end their crackdown on demonstrators.

Japan, Myanmar's biggest aid contributor, lodged a protest over the death of a Japanese journalist, who was among at least nine people killed Thursday when soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of unarmed demonstrators.

Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka was to visit Myanmar on Sunday.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in a telephone conversation with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that China was "very much concerned about the current situation" in Myanmar, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"China hopes all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and use peaceful means to restore its stability as soon as possible," Wen said. He added the international community should offer constructive help to resolve the situation.

The U.S. urged "all civilized nations" to press Myanmar's leaders to end the crackdown, which has also resulted in hundreds of arrests. Win Mya Mya, an outspoken member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, was among those seized overnight, according to family members.

But analysts said it was unlikely that countries with major investments in Myanmar, such as China and India, would agree to take any punitive measures. They also noted the junta has long ignored criticism of its tough handling of dissidents.

Although the crackdown raised fears of a repeat of a 1988 democracy uprising that saw an estimated 3,000 protesters slain, the junta appeared relatively restrained so far.

The arrival of additional troops in Yangon overnight strengthened the government's hand, said an Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol. The corralling of monks - who carry high moral authority in the predominantly Buddhist nation - was also a serious blow.

"They don't want the world to see what is going on there," Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the U.S. government, told reporters in Washington.

Lines formed at stores in Yangon, meanwhile, for shortwave radios, with people eager to tune into BBC, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.

The government has put the official death toll from this week's violence at 10, but diplomats and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said many more may have died, citing unconfirmed witness reports.

Dissident groups have put the number as high as 200, although that number could not be verified.

Demonstrators around the world urged Myanmar to end the crackdown and called on China to use its influence with the country's generals to broker change.

About 30 people, including Myanmar citizens, rallied outside the Chinese government's liaison office in Hong Kong.

"As far as I see this fight, it's good," a Myanmar immigrant said. "People stepped out, but I don't think the government will give up easily," he said, declining to be identified for fear of retaliation on his family back home.

The protesters also read out a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, urging Beijing to use its influence to persuade the Myanmar government to end its crackdown.

Dozens also marched in New Delhi to condemn the violence and call for the Indian government to intervene.

In Oslo, Norway, several thousand people clad in red staged a demonstration outside the Nobel Peace Center on Friday evening. Among the demonstrators was former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, who also called for China to use its leverage with the military regime in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"China has not done enough, and it holds the key," Bondevik told Norwegian news agency NTB.

[libsluvsuvs]

these anti-war liberal morons are still whinning about bush and oil..but gladly buy oil..whine about capitalism and exploitation but gladly buys GAP shirts made in India and taps on that keyboard made by some big corporation..whinning about conspiracies that they themselves promote BUT at the same time blindly passes dictatorships such as this...to save this world..we need to get rid of poser liberals

[libsluvsuvs]

and what is the UN going to do?????

complicate things with its incompetence

[wonderyman-2009]

If the Chinese can''t push for democracy in Burma, then perhaps we all should show China she is dependent on us. Stop buying goods from China for 1-2-3-4 months.
They don''t produce anything you/I can''t do without anyway.
A sharp reduction in Chinese production would probably also do their totally polluted environment good.

[getloud1]

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[edward1975-2009]

tuckerndfw: Simple mind, simple conspiracy. A little research and you would find how irrelevent that Mid Eastern oil is. But if this floats your boat, stick to it.

[j-whitman]

Nearl4511,,,, It''s not just Burma, It''s the concept of Unregulated Global Free Trade --
-- It''s used to promote repressive regeims, slave labor, sweat shops, regeim changes, etc. with absoultly no moral or ethical responsibilities on our part..
.. Our good government calls it helping undeveloped countries, it actually does more harm than good & our profit from it is obscene.
... To oppose it runs smack dab against our runnaway idea of capitalism & your called an isolationist -------- It''s one of the causes of the blow back we see today.

[nearl4511]

I realize that this is a tragedy and has been going on for decades, but........

with all the repressive military regime governments in the world, why does this story have legs. It''s as if someone told all the MSM agencies to pay attention to this. For my money genocide should rank higher than this simple repressive regime. Hey ever hear of Pakistan???

Does Burma have oil or minerals? Is is a way of making a statement ragarding CHina?

I really don''t get this. Why all the attention? It can''t be just human rights and democracy.

[j-whitman]

Other USA companies invested in Burma''s Junta''s oppressive government --
PepsiCo, Heineken, Carlsberg, Macy''s (Federated Department Stores), Levi''s, Reebok, Eddie Bauer, and others have pulled out of Burma or decided not to invest there because of consumer pressure. Others, like Apple, Motorola, and Kodak, have quit Burma in the face of selective purchasing laws that inhibit local governments from awarding contracts for goods, services, or construction to companies doing business in Burma.

[j-whitman]

Chevron (Former UNOCAL) uses UK dependent territories to channel investement to Burma via Bermuda to try to avoid being sued in US courts over human rights abuses.

[edward1975-2009]

tuckerndfw: You guys and your oil theories. Just think back, if going into Iraq was all about oil, we could''ve accomplished this yrs. ago. When we went into Kuwait to liberate them, why did we not just turn it into the American Oil Company. Think about it. Iran wanted no part of this, Iraq''s feared Republican Guard were reduced to Frenchman surrendering to anyone who would take them. Kuwait has more oil than Iraq, so why wasn''t this done. Oil had very little to do about us being in Iraq. We as a nation get most of our imported oil from Canada and Mexico. Middle East oil is a small amount of what we import.