Policy Advice for Addressing the Myanmar Nuclear Issue

PacNet #66 – Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009

by Mark Fitzpatrick

Comment: Myanmar's secretive project for nuclear proliferation, if it was true, it tests the inability of Asean again. This association cannot handle with junta administration of Myanmar as well as their nuclear proliferation initiative. However, Myanmar has developed its national interests far beyond Cambodia. When Asean cannot stop Thailand from trespassing into Cambodia's territory land, Cambodia has to plan nuclear energy, nuclear reactor that can possibly build nuclear weapons to protect itself from Vietnam and Thailand in the future. Is this vision beyond Hun Sen's administration? Or Hun Sen's administration is good only in propaganda with foreign invaders as well as gunless SRP?

Mark Fitzpatrick (Fitzpatrick@iiss.org) is director of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and editor of Preventing Nuclear Dangers in Southeast Asia (London: IISS, 28 Sept. 28, 2009), from which this article is taken.

As the nuclear renaissance comes to Southeast Asia, the countries of the region face an important turning point. Decisions taken today will help determine whether nuclear energy will play a positive role in their economic development or whether a shadow of nuclear danger will accompany the benefits of this energy source. There are worries about nuclear safety, the opacity about Myanmar’s nuclear plans and its growing connections with North Korea, and the extent to which vulnerabilities in national trade controls have been exploited by outside states and non-state actors. ASEAN states have an opportunity to reinforce global standards aimed at minimizing the safety, security, and proliferation risks of nuclear energy. With ASEAN’s tradition of cooperation, the region’s relatively benign strategic environment and the nonproliferation norm epitomized in the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Bangkok Treaty), the region can develop strengthened arrangements for safe and secure nuclear energy that can be a model for others. ASEAN states have an opportunity to reinforce global standards aimed at minimizing the safety, security, and proliferation risks of nuclear energy. With ASEAN’s tradition of cooperation, the region’s relatively benign strategic environment and the nonproliferation norm epitomized in the Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (Bangkok Treaty), the region can develop strengthened arrangements for safe and secure nuclear energy that can be a model for others. For Myanmar, three recommendations should be considered.

Keep close watch

The Bangkok Treaty requirement for members to share information about nuclear-development plans is nowhere more important than with Myanmar. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, concerns about nuclear projects are focused on safety and security issues. Those concerns are relevant to Myanmar as well. However, the prospect of that country having an interest in nuclear weapons causes the most concern. Although reports of a North Korea nuclear link are unconfirmed, Myanmar’s relationship with Pyongyang, the leadership’s secretive nature, paranoid perspective, and disregard for international norms along with the North’s record of onward proliferation are ample reason for others to be closely attentive.

Insist on openness

Myanmar can help address these concerns by adopting international standards of nuclear transparency. This means accepting and fully implementing the IAEA Additional Protocol and amending the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP) to Myanmar’s safeguards agreement. Myanmar currently adheres to an old version of the SQP, which holds in abeyance most of operative provisions of the IAEA’s verification tools.The country’s neighbors should encourage this transparency, and those that also have the outdated SQP (Brunei, Cambodia, and Laos) should follow the lead of Singapore and adopt the September 2005 version of this protocol promulgated by the IAEA to close the loophole. Although the Myanmar government has not shown itself to be susceptible to external pressure in its treatment of domestic opposition, it does care about its international reputation and may be more amenable to persuasion in selective cases, as demonstrated by its apparent agreement to adhere to UN Security Council resolution 1874 banning arms exports from North Korea. Fellow ASEAN members may wish to consider invoking the Bangkok Treaty Article 13 provision to request a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to clarify some of the questions that have been raised. Myanmar should also allow the IAEA to investigate credible reports of clandestine nuclear cooperation with other countries. Other states should be willing to share with the IAEA any intelligence information about such reports, so that the agency has good grounds for conducting an investigation. Myanmar’s nuclear cooperation with Russia is not itself of proliferation concern, given the plutonium-production limitations of the planned 10MWt reactor. The possibility cannot be dismissed, however, of Myanmar having a hidden nuclear agenda. National pride is the most logical explanation for why such an impoverished country would seek such a high-tech facility, but it is conceivable that secondary motivations might include providing a cover for a parallel military nuclear effort or as a step in a program to build up a cadre of technical expertise that might be used for weapons-related work. Myanmar is aware of what North Korea accomplished in the nuclear field after starting in the early 1960s with a small research reactor. It would behoove Russia to insist on full transparency – as well as strict adherence to international safety conventions – before a final contract is agreed. Russia and Myanmar should also share with the IAEA details of discussions on site selection and provide design information before any construction begins on the reactor.

Begin contingency planning

If concerns are borne out and it is discovered that Myanmar is, in fact, engaged in secretive nuclear cooperation with North Korea or any other country or non-state actor, ASEAN and the SEANWFZ will be put to the test. If Myanmar were to pursue nuclear weapons, the Association as it stands today and its dispute-resolution mechanisms alone would not be able to dissuade Myanmar from that path.Prudent planning for such a contingency could lead ASEAN members to take steps now to improve these mechanisms, starting with enforcing the information-sharing requirements of the Bangkok Treaty. Meanwhile, India and Myanmar’s other closest neighbors along with outside powers with regional interests may wish to consider sharing analysis of Myanmar’s nuclear intentions.

A wounded Hun Sen lashes at the entire UN body to leave his Myanmar buddies alone

Cambodian leader blasts report, says UN should leave Myanmar alone

Wednesday, December 12, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: The U.N. should leave Myanmar alone and stop disrupting the junta's progress toward democracy by issuing critical reports on human rights abuses, Cambodia's leader said Wednesday.

"Myanmar has been moving smoothly ahead," Prime Minister Hun Sen said, becoming perhaps the first national leader to publicly praise the country's military junta since its bloody September crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

Hun Sen, whose government is regularly criticized for human rights abuses, lashed out at a report released Friday by U.N. human rights investigator Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

The report found that at least 31 people were killed during the Myanmar crackdown, twice the toll acknowledged by the junta. It also said that 650 people remained in custody and another 74 people were missing.

Hun Sen said the report did nothing but "disturb" Myanmar's efforts toward reform.

"If you just keep opposing and pressuring (Myanmar), how can it solve its own problems?" Hun Sen said during a speech at the inauguration of a government women's dormitory.

"Leave them some space to work," Hun Sen said, adding that he believed the junta's goals for the future match the U.N.'s. "They also want to have national reconciliation, democracy and respect for human rights."

Myanmar sparked global outrage in September when troops opened fire on pro-democracy protests that were led by Buddhist monks. The junta has acknowledged killing 15 protesters, but diplomats and dissidents say the toll was much higher.

The U.N. has spearheaded efforts to coax the junta to start reconciliation talks with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A Nobel peace laureate, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

Myanmar and Cambodia are members of the 10-nation Associated of Southeast Asian Nations, which has come under criticism for failure to take a tough public stance against the junta's crackdown. ASEAN has a traditional policy of not interfering in the domestic affairs of its members.

Last week, Hun Sen hosted a visit by Myanmar's prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, during which he reiterated a long-standing opposition to economic sanctions against Myanmar.

Hun Sen urges Myanmar Junta not to repeat what he and his henchmen did in Cambodia in 1997

Cambodia urges Myanmar to exercise "maximum tolerance" toward protesters

AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia's prime minister called Wednesday for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to play a bigger role in finding a democratic solution to the crisis in Myanmar and urged the junta there to refrain from further violence.

Hun Sen said the involvement of Myanmar's revered Buddhist monks in recent pro-democracy protests showed that problems in the country had reached a new level of seriousness.

"ASEAN should be playing a more active role," Hun Sen told reporters, proposing that the bloc form a "troika" that can "assist in finding a solution to the problems in Myanmar."

Such a troika, Hun Sen said, should be led by Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose country is currently the rotating chair of ASEAN, and joined by the previous and future leaders of the bloc _ meaning Malaysia and Thailand.

Simmering hatred for the Myanmar military's 45-year rule exploded in mid-August after it hiked fuel prices by as much as 500 percent, a crushing burden in the impoverished nation. The marches soon ballooned into mass pro-democracy demonstrations led by the nation's Buddhist monks.

The military crushed the protests on Sept. 26 and 27. Hundreds of monks and civilians were detained. The government says 10 people were killed in the violence. But dissident groups put the death toll at up to 200. They say 6,000 people were detained.

"We would like to see Myanmar exercise the maximum tolerance and refrain from using force to crackdown on demonstrators," Hun Sen said.

He added that Myanmar rulers should also "try to carry on the process of reconciliation, solve the problems and move toward democratization, peace and respect of human rights in Myanmar."

Hun Sen and his government have also faced international criticism for violating human rights.

In late 2005, Hun Sen had a half dozen critics jailed for several months on defamation charges for criticizing him. The critics were released following international and domestic condemnation of his government's actions.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The members rotate chairmanship of the grouping according to alphabetical order of their countries.

Political Cartoon: Domino in Asia

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

SRP-France: Let's Not Allow The Burmese People To Be Crushed

SRP-France Communiqué

LET'S NOT ALLOW THE BURMESE PEOPLE TO BE CRUSHED

La version française de ce communiqué se trouve à la fin du texte en anglais

SRP France unreservedly gives total support to Buddhist monks and to the Burmese people who bravely fight against the military junta, and SRP France condemns the repression initiated by the Burmese army to destroy the protest movement for the democracy in Rangoon.

We also ask for the release of all the officials of the Aung San Suu Kyi opposition party.

We are siding with the European Union, in particular with France and the United States, to ask the UN Security Council to plan sanctions against the Burmese military junta and to put an end to the totalitarian regime and to give hope for democracy for the Burmese people.

Paris, September 27, 2007

MEN Sothavarin
President of SRP France
---
Communiqué du PSR France

NE LAISSONS PAS ECRASER LE PEUPLE BIRMAN

Le PSR France tient à apporter le soutien total et sans réserve aux moines bouddhistes et au peuple birman qui luttent courageusement contre la junte militaire et condamne la répression entamée par l'armée birmane pour anéantir le mouvement de protestation pour la démocratie à Rangoun.

Nous demandons également la libération de tous les responsables du parti de l'opposante Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nous sommes avec l'Union Européenne, en particulier la France et les Etats-Unis pour demander au Conseil de Sécurité de l'ONU d'envisager des sanctions contre la junte militaire birmane pour mettre fin au régime totalitaire et donner au peuple birman l'espoir de démocratie.

Fait à Paris, le 27 septembre 2007

Le Président du PSR France

MEN Sothavarin

Statement by ASEAN Chair on Burma issue

Statement by ASEAN Chair

Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo
New York, 27 September 2007

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers had a full and frank discussion on the situation in Myanmar at their Informal Meeting this morning in the UN and agreed for the Chair to issue this Statement. They were appalled to receive reports of automatic weapons being used and demanded that the Myanmar government immediately desist from the use of violence against demonstrators. They expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force and that there has been a number of fatalities. They strongly urged Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution. They called upon Myanmar to resume its efforts at national reconciliation with all parties concerned, and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy. The Ministers called for the release of all political detainees including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers expressed their concern to Minister Nyan Win that the developments in Myanmar had a serious impact on the reputation and credibility of ASEAN. They noted that Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has spoken to his ASEAN counterparts over the past day, and will be writing to Senior General Than Shwe.

The ASEAN Foreign Ministers gave their full support to the decision of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar. They welcomed FM Nyan Win’s assurance that a visa would be issued to Mr Gambari in Singapore. They asked the Myanmar government to cooperate fully and work with him. Mr Gambari’s role as a neutral interlocutor among all the parties can help defuse the dangerous situation. The Ministers urged the Myanmar government to grant him full access to all parties in Myanmar, as they had done in the past.

Reaction about the political situation in Burma

27 September 2007
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

High ranking government officials, monks, and opposition MPs are reacting differently to the political situation in Burma which is now embroiled wit unrest, and the use of violence against monks causing deaths and the arrest of several hundreds monks during the government attack on demonstrators protesting against the Myanmar regime.

Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman, gave this comment to RFA on Thursday: “We want the Burmese government to avoid using violence, there should be discussions held between all sides of the society again, that would be better.”

Tep Vong, the Buddhist supreme patriarch of Cambodia, said that this is an altogether different issue: “I have no reaction, this is their issue, my issues are mine. The basic attributes of my noble nature are: compassion, pity, joy at other’s happiness, and sincerity…”

Venerable Yoeung Sin, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Monks Association in Cambodia, said in reaction to this issue that he is condemning the use of force on Burmese monks.

Venerable Yoeung Sin said: “These savage acts must be condemned by the world and by those who love peace and society. These are savage actions taken by people who are dictators.”

Opposition SRP MP Son Chhay said in reaction to this issue that this is the time for the Cambodian government to show its position.

Son Chhay said: “First, our government should express its position, which party does it side with? Does the (Cambodian) government support the democrats or is it supporting the dictators? This is an issue that the (Cambodian) government can no longer maintain.”

Recently, according to international news, TV, and radio media in English, a large demonstration is occurring in Burma, and more than 100,000 of Burmese monks and laypersons have participated in this mass demonstration to oppose the Myanmar government.

This demonstration was met by violent attacks from the government troops, and 4 people died, over 100 were injured, and more than 200 monks were arrested during the government retaliation.

In 1988, Burma also saw a mass demonstration once already, but that demonstration was quelled with violence causing more than 3,000 deaths from government force shootings.

In Cambodia, there were also government retaliations against demonstration in 1998. The Cambodian demonstration at that time was led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, and it was also participated by Cambodian monks. The demonstrators were protesting the results of the election which was conducted in July 1998.

China pleads for calm in Myanmar [... but refused to condemn the military junta, China's protégé]

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - China issued an evenhanded plea for calm in Myanmar on Thursday after refusing to condemn the military-run government, while Southeast Asian nations expressed "revulsion" at the violent repression of the demonstrations.

The United States said it was imposing economic sanctions against 14 top officials in the military junta.

A statement issued after a foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting in New York strongly urged Myanmar's government "to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution."

The ASEAN ministers called for the release of all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.

"They expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force and that there has been a number of fatalities," the statement said.

"They strongly urged Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution," it said. "They called upon Myanmar to resume its efforts at national reconciliation with all parties concerned, and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy."

Myanmar is an ASEAN member, along with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

China has come under increasing pressure to use its regional influence to urge Myanmar's ruling junta to show restraint in dealing with the protests.

On Wednesday, China refused to condemn Myanmar and ruled out imposing sanctions, but for the first time agreed to a Security Council statement expressing concern at the violent crackdown and urging the country's military rulers to allow in a U.N. envoy.

The U.N. special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, headed for Myanmar at Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's request to try to promote a political solution and reconciliation efforts. U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Ban had been told by Win that Gambari "will be welcomed by the Myanmar government."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing that "China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated."

The crackdown puts China in a bind. Its communist government has developed close diplomatic ties with junta leaders and is a major investor in Myanmar. But with the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, China is eager to fend off criticism that it shelters unpopular or abusive regimes.

China and Russia contend the situation in Myanmar is an internal affair and doesn't threaten international peace and security — as required for Security Council action — so getting them to agree to the press statement was considered a positive step.

The Bush administration announced that 14 senior officials in Myanmar would be subject to sanctions. Those targeted include the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and the No. 2 man, Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye. The action freezes any assets the 14 have in U.S. banks or other financial institutions under U.S. jurisdiction, and also prohibits any U.S. citizens from doing business with those individuals.

At the United Nations on Tuesday, Bush accused Myanmar of imposing "a 19-year reign of fear" that denies basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship.

"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals," Bush said in a statement.

European Union diplomats agreed to consider imposing more economic sanctions on Myanmar. Sanctions were first imposed in 1996 and include a ban on travel to Europe for top government officials, an assets freeze and a ban on arms sales to Myanmar.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing that the use of force by the junta "will solve nothing."

"We all need to agree on the fact that the Burmese government has got to stop thinking that this can be solved by police and military, and start thinking about the need for genuine reconciliation with the broad spectrum of political activists in the country," he added.

Hill was expected to discuss the violence in Myanmar with Chinese officials on the sidelines of North Korean nuclear disarmament talks this week in Beijing. He declined to say whether Washington would request specific measures from Beijing.

Among those killed Thursday was Kenji Nagai, a journalist for the Japanese video news agency APF News. Nagai, 50, had been covering the protests since Tuesday, APF representative Toru Yamaji said in Japan.

In Washington, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tokyo held Myanmar "strictly" accountable for Nagai's death. The 50-year-old journalist had been covering the protests in Yangon, APF representative Toru Yamaji said in Japan.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Japan will lodge a protest with Myanmar, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. "We strongly protest the Myanmar government and demand an investigation" into the death, Machimura was quoted as saying by the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, as saying. "We demand (Myanmar) take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the Japanese citizens in that country."

Japan will send Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka to Myanmar to protest Nagai's death, said Tomohiko Taniguchi, a deputy press secretary traveling with Komura in Washington.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government would also press Beijing to urge the junta to end its violent repression.
___
Associated Press writers Mari Yamiguchi in Tokyo, Foster Klug and Martin Crutsinger in Washington, Jan Sliva in Brussels, Belgium, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

China’s Burma Shame

Photo courtesy of BurmaNet News

27 September 2007
A. Lin Neumann
Asia Sentinel (Hong Kong)

By not ‘interfering’ with Rangoon’s murderous generals, Beijing props up a despised regime

In recent years, much has been made of China’s growing “soft power” in Asia. With the United States distracted by a failed presidency and a disaster of its own making in Iraq, the field has been open to China to assert itself as a friend to developing countries, and an economic partner who will not ask too many questions before dispensing vast reserves of cash for infrastructure projects in return for access to markets and resources.

Indeed, the model has been good for the region, in some ways. Badly needed capital has been mobilized in places like Cambodia and Laos. Far from destroying Asian economies, as some had feared, the remarkable growth of China has increased opportunities for intra-regional trade, while allowing China to expand its influence aggressively into countries like the Philippines that were once the preserve of the United States.

But there are limits to what pure economic muscle can do, and China may have reached that point in Burma this week. When a close ally beats and shoots unarmed monks who are asking for nothing more than to have a voice in the affairs of their country, the hollowness of the Chinese diplomatic model is on plain view.

There is more to being a responsible partner on the world stage than handing out bags of money. China knows this, as it has demonstrated in the ongoing six-party talks to deal with North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. Beijing has played a leading role in keeping the talks going, cajoling North Korea to be reasonable and working closely with its partners — the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and the United States — to keep the process engaged and to help Washington back away from its unproductive “axis of evil” stance.

On Burma, however, Beijing has been shameful. It has supported the murderous generals who seized power in a hail of bullets with vital amounts of aid and investment in return for access to natural resources, becoming the country’s largest trading partner and undermining efforts by the EU and the West to isolate and force the regime to change. It continues to deflect UN Security Council action and it has failed to engage the junta constructively, preferring to follow the dictates of greed in the name of the Communist Party’s principle of “non-interference” in the domestic affairs of its neighbors.

In the current situation, of course, non-interference is simply a lie. By investing billions in Burma (two-way trade with Burma amounted to $1.11 billion in 2006, according to Chinese government figures cited by the International Herald Tribune. Trade for the first seven months of this year has risen by 39.4 percent over a year earlier) and delivering at least US$1.4 billion in weapons sales over the past several years, China has strategically intervened on the side of an illegitimate regime despised by its own people.

Far from an example of the cuddly “soft power” China wishes to display to its neighbors, in Burma the cold calculus of Beijing’s foreign policy is clear. It wants access to Burma’s land and resources and it does not care what happens to Burma’s own people.

The reality, of course, is that for all its growth and economic dynamism, China’s hermetically sealed leaders are far closer in style and temperament to the junta’s generals than they are to politicians and leaders in democratic countries who have to contend with the messiness of a free press, elections, public debate and the rule of law. Hu Jintao and Co, like the generals who run Burma, are used to laying down the law.

But China faces a serious dilemma in Burma. As a power that wants to be taken seriously on the world stage, China can ill afford to sacrifice its good standing for a bunch of backward, corrupt and immoral thugs. This is why we are told that the politburo in Beijing is deeply troubled by the unrest in Rangoon and may be cautioning the regime to take it easy before opening fire on the monks. This is not out of any compassion for the monks, but out of the cold reality that Beijing knows that a bloodbath in Burma — like the Tiananmen massacre that followed the last crackdown in Rangoon by a year — would reflect badly on China a year ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

But with an estimated 86,000 spontaneous riots and demonstrations in China last year over a variety of grievances, Beijing also knows how difficult it is to keep the lid on its own people. With the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China due in about two weeks, analysts say the timing of a Burma crisis could not be worse. If they act to undermine the generals on their southern border, Beijing’s leaders fear that unrest could spread by example into China. If Beijing does nothing, and things go terribly wrong, the world will hold it responsible for the actions of its client state.

The Burma uprising could be a coming of age test for China. As other major powers have gradually discovered, pariah states make unreliable long-term allies. On a visit to Mandalay a few years ago, I marveled at the many Chinese-style commercial buildings going up in a city fast becoming an economic satellite of southern China. The Burmese I was with were openly resentful. “We have no say in this,” I was told. “The Chinese can do whatever they want because they are friends with the army. But when the generals are gone, we will make the Chinese pay.”

The day when China has to pay for its Burma policy could be drawing near.

Myanmar forces raid monasteries overnight

Wednesday, September 26, 2007
The Associated Press

"You are the army of the people, we are feeding you! Be just to us!" - Burmese demonstrators shouting at the regime soldiers

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar security forces raided two Buddhist monasteries early Thursday, beating up and hauling away more than 70 monks after a day of violent confrontation with monk-led protesters that left at least one dead, Buddhist clergy said.

The security forces fired at protesters for the first time Wednesday in street protests that have brewed over the past month into the biggest demonstrations against Myanmar's military rulers since 1988. At least one man was killed and others wounded in chaotic clashes in Yangon.

After midnight, security forces arrested Myint Thein, the spokesman for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, family members said. An executive of her National League for Democracy, Hla Pe, and a former member of parliament from the Chin ethnic minority, Pu Yin Shin, also were arrested, according to exiled league member Ko Maung Maung.

But an Asian diplomat confirmed that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi remained at her Yangon residence where she has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Rumors had circulated that she had been taken away to Yangon's notorious Insein prison.

Several monasteries, hotbeds of the pro-democracy movement, were raided by security personnel early Thursday in an apparent attempt to prevent further demonstrations, which have been spearheaded by the Buddhist clergy.

A monk at the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery, pointing to bloodstains on the concrete floor, said a number of monks were beaten and at least 70 of its 150 monks taken away in vehicles. Shots were fired in the air during the chaotic raid, he said on contition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A female lay disciple, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said a number of monks were also arrested at the Moe Gaung monastery which was being guarded by soldiers. Both monasteries are located in Yangon's northern suburbs.

"Even a monk who was sick was taken away," she said.

Dramatic images of Wednesday's protests, many transmitted by dissidents using cell phones and the Internet, riveted world attention on the escalating faceoff between the military regime and its opponents.

Protesters and even bystanders in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, pelted police with bottles and rocks. Onlookers helped monks escape arrest by bundling them into taxis and other vehicles and shouting "Go, go, go, run!"

The government said one man was killed when police opened fire during the ninth consecutive day of demonstrations, but dissidents outside Myanmar reported receiving news of up to eight deaths.

Some reports said the dead included monks, who are widely revered in Myanmar, and the emergence of such martyr figures could stoke public anger against the regime and escalate the violence.

As the stiffest challenge to the generals in two decades, the crisis that began Aug. 19 with protests over a fuel price hike has drawn increasing international pressure on the isolated regime, especially from its chief economic and diplomatic ally, China.

The United States and the European Union issued a joint statement decrying the assault on peaceful demonstrators and calling on the junta to open talks with democracy activists, including Suu Kyi.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was sending a special envoy to the region, urged the junta "to exercise utmost restraint toward the peaceful demonstrations taking place, as such action can only undermine the prospects for peace, prosperity and stability in Myanmar."

The protests are the biggest challenge to the junta since a failed 1988 democracy uprising. In that crisis, soldiers shot into crowds of peaceful demonstrators, killing thousands.

Myanmar's government said security forces fired Wednesday when a crowd that included what it called "so-called monks" refused to disperse at the Sule Pagoda and tried to grab weapons from officers. It said police used "minimum force."

The junta statement, read on state media Wednesday night, said a 30-year-old man was killed by a police bullet. It said two men aged 25 and 27 and a 47-year-old woman also were hurt when police fired, but did not specify their injuries.

Witnesses told The Associated Press they saw two women and one young man with gunshot wounds.

Exiled Myanmar journalists and democracy activists released reports of higher death tolls, but the accounts could not be independently confirmed.

During the marches in Yangon, demonstrators tried to shame one group of soldiers by chanting: "You are the army of the people, we are feeding you! Be just to us!"

Four killed in Myanmar protest crackdown

This picture received by The Irrawaddy, an Internet publication, shows a monk running as tear gas fills the air in downtown Yangon. Myanmar security forces used batons, tear gas and live rounds in a violent crackdown on mass protests against the military junta, killing at least four people including three Buddhist monks.

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar security forces used batons, tear gas and live rounds Wednesday in a violent crackdown on mass protests against the military junta, killing at least four people including three Buddhist monks.

Up to 100,000 people defied heavy security to take to the streets of the main city Yangon, marching and shouting abuse at police despite blunt warnings from the ruling generals who are facing the most serious challenge to their rule in nearly two decades.

Two of the monks were beaten to death while another was shot when he tried to wrestle a gun away from a soldier and the weapon discharged, two senior Myanmar officials told AFP.

They said the monks were killed near Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest site and a key rallying point for the clergy leading the nine days of protests which have spread across the Southeast Asian nation.

A fourth man, who was not a monk, was shot dead, a hospital source said.

The UN Security Council was to meet in an emergency session in New York later Wednesday to discuss the spiralling crisis, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose country is the former colonial power, said "the whole world is now watching Burma" and called for a UN envoy to be sent there to talk to the "illegitimate and repressive regime."

After tolerating more than a week of protests, police opened fire and baton-charged protesters who had begun to gather at the Shwedagon Pagoda in the blazing noon sunshine.

Undeterred by the show of force, some 1,000 monks soon regrouped and paraded through the streets, to the delight of thousands of onlookers.

They roared approval for the monks and shouted at security forces: "You are fools! You are fools!"

Police and troops then fired a volley of warning shots and tear gas to try to break up the march.

In a sign of the resilience and determination of the protest movement, tens of thousands of monks massed once again, marching through the main market in a protest that lasted until the early evening.

At least 100 people were injured during the day and some 200 people were arrested, as many as half of them Buddhist monks, according to witnesses and diplomats.

State television news said that one 30-year-old protester had been killed, and another two men and one woman were injured, along with 10 police.

The report said security forces had used loudspeakers to ask the crowd to disperse but that the protesters had hurled stones and sticks at them, tried to steal their weapons, and set fire to two military motorcycles.

"Because of the difficult situation, the security forces opened fire to disperse the crowd, using just a little force against the violent protesters. Because they opened fire, the protesters dispersed," it said.

The party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi branded the assaults on the monks -- highly revered in the devoutly Buddhist nation -- "the greatest wrong in history."

Protesters ignored a ban on public gatherings issued Tuesday along with a dusk-to-dawn curfew, as the generals who have turned Myanmar into one of the world's poorest and most isolated nations tried to keep a lid on the unrest.

Wednesday was the first time violence has been used against the recent protests, and analysts said it could be a preview for an even more severe crackdown in coming days.

There are fears of a repeat of 1988, the last time demonstrators rallied in such numbers in the streets of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Then, around 3,000 people were killed by the security forces.

There were sketchy reports Wednesday of huge turnouts and further clashes with police in the central city of Mandalay and in Sittwe on the western coast where 15,000 people marched.

Pro-democracy politician Win Naing and the country's most famous comedian Zaganar were also arrested earlier for helping the monks.

The unrest began last month when the junta dramatically raised the price of fuel overnight, deepening the misery in this already impoverished country.

The initial protests -- rare in a nation where the military quickly crushes any show of dissent -- began with only a handful of marching demonstrators.

But after the monks joined, the movement swelled, and around 100,000 people marched in Yangon on Monday and Tuesday.

Over 100,000 flood Myanmar streets in largest protest in decades [-Like the Hun Sen regime, Myanmar junta threatens to take action against monks]

Buddhist monks march in protest in Yangon. More than 100,000 people flooded the streets of Myanmar's biggest city, joining Buddhist monks in the strongest show of dissent against the ruling generals in nearly two decades.(AFP)

YANGON (AFP) — More than 100,000 people flooded the streets of Myanmar's biggest city Monday, joining Buddhist monks in the strongest show of dissent against the ruling generals in nearly two decades.

The enormous show of strength drew a swift threat from the military government to "take action" against the monks, even as world leaders urged the junta to show restraint in dealing with the protests.

Two major marches snaked their way through the nation's commercial capital led by robed monks chanting prayers of peace and compassion, witnesses said.

Some of the people marched through the rain under a banner reading: "This is a peaceful mass movement." Others had tears in their eyes.

The protests lasted nearly five hours, ending with prayers at pagodas before the crowds returned to their homes.

Political dissidents based in Thailand said major protests also took place in Myanmar's second city of Mandalay, the western oil town of Sittwe, and the religious centre of Pakokku, but the reports were difficult to confirm.

In the first official reaction to a week of escalating protests led by the monks, state media reported that the religion minister, Brigadier General Thura Myint Maung, had issued a warning to senior clergy.

"If the monks go against the rules and regulations in the authority of the Buddhist teachings, we will take action under the existing law," state television quoted the minister as saying.

The threat came as the international community urged restraint by the junta on the eve of the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, where world leaders are expected to push the generals to adopt democratic reforms.

"We are consulting with allies and friends in the regions on ways to encourage dialogue between the regime and those seeking freedom," said US national security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Germany and France added their voices to the chorus, with the foreign ministry in Paris warning that the junta would be held accountable if there were any harsh crackdowns on the streets of major cities.

Closer to home, Malaysian lawmakers urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to use its influence to push Myanmar, itself a member of the regional bloc, to reform.

The generals have normally been tough on dissent, and their 1988 crackdown left hundreds if not thousands dead.

But Monday's rally was the latest in more than a month of growing demonstrations against the junta since a massive fuel price hike triggered public anger.

The monks and supporters set off from holy Shwedagon Pagoda and walked past the offices of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won elections in 1990 but was never allowed to govern.

NLD officials came out to join the marchers, many of whom fixed small strips of the coloured cloth of the monks' robes onto their own shirts, in a procession that quickly swelled to more than 30,000 people.

"We are marching for the people," one monk told the crowd.

A second march estimated at up to 100,000 people headed north of the city, drawing in ever more as it marched past the now-shuttered campus of a university that was the scene of the 1988 uprising.

It appeared to stretch for as long as a kilometre (more than half a mile), blocking traffic on one of the city's major thoroughfares.

The British ambassador in Yangon, Mark Canning, said the country's leaders were now in uncharted territory and doubted that the protests would fizzle out.

"You could see a sharp reaction from the government, which is more likely," he told AFP.

"The obvious way out of this is to sit down with the various elements that are involved in all this and try and reach some sort of common ground."

Analysts believe the junta has thus far held back because any violence against the monks in this devoutly Buddhist nation would spark a huge outcry.

In a surprise move on Saturday, armed police allowed about 2,000 monks and civilians to pray outside the home of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, long the face of resistance to the generals, who have ruled here since 1962.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate stepped outside the lakeside home where she has been under house arrest for more than a decade and greeted the crowd, but riot police have blocked the road since Sunday.

Prominent democracy activists initially led the rallies but the generals arrested more than 200 people, according to human rights groups.

ASEAN Lawmakers Urge China, India To Withdraw Support For Myanmar Junta

2007-08-21
By SEAN YOONG
AP

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Myanmar's military rulers will ignore demands for restoring democracy as long as China, India and Southeast Asian countries keep supporting them, regional lawmakers said Monday (August 20th).

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations should form a "triangle of influence" with China and India to exert political and economic pressure on Myanmar's junta, which "has broken its promises to ASEAN many times before about implementing genuine reforms," said Charles Chong, a Singaporean member of Parliament.

"All of us - ASEAN, China and India - will suffer if Myanmar's situation continues to deteriorate," Chong said at a gathering of more than 20 national legislators from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore to discuss Myanmar's politics.

Problems sparked by the Myanmar military's grip on power have hurt the region, sending refugees to Thailand and Malaysia, producing illegal drugs that spill over to China and wrecking ASEAN's efforts to be seen as an influential grouping, Chong said.

Some lawmakers at the meeting called for the region's public and private sectors to pull investments out of Myanmar, adding that they would submit a petition to the Chinese and Indian governments to exercise more moral courage in tackling Myanmar.

"With Beijing as its 'godfather," the (Myanmar government) has been emboldened to act with impunity and contempt for the concerns of its immediate neighbors," the lawmakers said in a statement.

Chong acknowledged it would be tough to coax China to withdraw its diplomatic support for Myanmar's junta and crucial investments in oil, gas and minerals.

"Not even the U.S. and the E.U. can compel China to do something it doesn't want to," he said. "But China wants to be respected globally, and we know that responsible global leaders would not support a regime that inflicts such suffering on its own people."

Myanmar's current junta, which took power in 1988, held general elections in 1990 but refused to cede power after a landslide victory by the National League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

ASEAN ministers take up Myanmar

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (C) walks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo (L) and Foreign Ministers of participant countries before the opening ceremony of the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Manila July 30, 2007. From L-R: Romulo, Malaysia's Hamid Syed Albar, Arroyo, Cambodia's Hor Namhong, Myanmar's U Nyan Win, Singapore's George Yeo and Indonesia's Hassan Wirajuda. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Monday, July 30, 2007
Raju Gopalakrishnan

MANILA (Reuters) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers began a meeting on Monday that will focus on how to deal with military-ruled Myanmar, whose dismal human rights record is diverting attention from the bloc's efforts at economic integration.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated the annual ministerial meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) but did not specifically mention Myanmar or human rights, an issue that has divided the group.

"An ASEAN community is going to be anchored first and foremost on economic integration, with a focus on social justice and raising the standard of living in the region," she said. "It is about creating a dynamic force in Asia to maximize the benefit of globalisation."globalization

ASEAN's goal is to achieve economic integration among its 10 members by 2015 but the task looks difficult with nations at differing stages of development. Singapore for example is one of the richest nations in Asia while Laos is among the poorest.

The bloc is also under a cloud over Myanmar and its military regime. The European Union, which ASEAN hopes to emulate, and the United States have criticized the Asian group for failing to bring enough pressure on Myanmar to restore democracy and free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

That, however, may be changing. At an informal dinner on Sunday, many of the ASEAN ministers sharply criticized Myanmar.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said the host nation was joined by several other countries in calling for the restoration of democracy in the former Burma and the release of Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May 2003.

IMPATIENCE

"I sense there is impatience, there is frustration," Romulo told reporters. "So we urged Myanmar in the spirit of ASEAN that they should accelerate the process of the roadmap to democracy.

"This will not only benefit the people of Myanmar, but our own credibility as ASEAN will be enhanced."

It was a major departure from tradition for ASEAN, which usually avoids commenting on the internal affairs of member states.

ASEAN diplomats have also blamed Myanmar for blocking an attempt by the group to set up a human rights commission under a landmark charter that it is preparing.

A task force drafting the charter has completed the first version but left out a provision creating a human rights body. The issue will now be decided by the foreign ministers, the diplomats said.

The first draft, a copy of which was shown to Reuters, agreed to maintain the bloc's traditional way of deciding issues through a consensus and made no mention of sanctions for member states guilty of serious violations of the charter.

These issues have polarized ASEAN, with the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia among those pushing for a human rights body and for a departure from ASEAN's time-honored consensus diplomacy.

Myanmar is among those blocking the moves, while Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, which all have one-party governments, are also not comfortable with the ideas, diplomats have said.

Singapore and Brunei make up the rest of the grouping.

Analysts however say that the idea of an ASEAN human rights code will be difficult to achieve given the differing interpretations of the term within the group and stricter anti-terrorism laws across the region.

"The best that ASEAN can achieve in its landmark charter is a best-efforts pledge to work for adherence to human rights," said columnist Ana Marie Pamintuan in the Philippine Star newspaper.

"The charter provision will have to be vaguely worded or several laws used to fight terrorism could be considered violations."

(Additional reporting by Manny Mogato)