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| Southeast Asia |
| Myanmar Threatened With Sanctions Amid Global Protest |
| 2007-10-07 |
| (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. said it may seek United Nations sanctions against Myanmar as a worldwide show of support for pro-democracy demonstrators got under way. Campaigners in countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, South Korea, the U.K. and Ireland planned to march at noon local time, wearing red headbands in support of Buddhist monks who've been arrested, the Burma Campaign U.K. said on its Web site. ``This day of action is to show that the crisis has not gone away. The UN Security Council must act now to end the crackdown and they must keep focused on this crisis until we know the people of Burma are safe,'' said Ko Aung, a Burmese refugee in the U.K. International condemnation of the military regime of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has intensified since it deployed soldiers on Sept. 26 to crush protests. Security forces clubbed and shot at pro-democracy demonstrators, raided monasteries and arrested monks. At least 30 people were killed and 1,400 arrested, according to the Australian government. About 500 people marched today to the Opera House in Sydney, said Benya Aye, a 49-year-old former political prisoner in Burma who helped organize the Australian protest. ``International pressure on the junta is high and it is the right time for us to increase that pressure and push for the military to change,'' said Aye, who spent two years and two months in a Burmese jail before moving to Australia in 1987. Settle Problems ``Even though the military has done horrible things to us, we aim to settle these problems through reconciliation. The feeling here today is of elation and people can see the future,'' Aye said today in a telephone interview from Sydney. Demonstrators also marched in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Brisbane and in New Zealand's Wellington, Dunedin, Christchurch and Palmerston North. The protests were an ``international outcry'' to send a message to Myanmar's military regime that the ``world is outraged,'' Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International, said today in a statement on the London-based human rights group's Web site. The Association of South East Asian Nations said the world has to be ``pragmatic'' in dealing with Myanmar and any peaceful solution to the crisis must involve the military. ``The military is a key institution in Myanmar that cannot be wished away,'' Vanu Gopala Menon, Singapore's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council meeting yesterday, according to a transcript released today by the city-state's Foreign Ministry. ``If the military is not part of the solution, there will be no solution.'' |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 WAFF.com Poster > CELESTIAL MONROE DOCTRINE [Global Chinese Empire under Heaven] Post - argues China needs to take over Myanmar, etal for Chicom security and in order to get access [read - ports] in Indian Ocean region. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-10-07 22:17 |
| #1 All the junta has to do is convert to Islam, then the world won't care if you kill Buddhists or Jews. Just ask the Thais. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-10-07 09:51 |