soc.culture.asian.american

Monk makes phone appeal to New York backers


Sunday, October 7, 2007
By Claudia Parsons, Reuters


NEW YORK -- A leader of the Buddhist monks who have led street protests in
Myanmar urged Americans on Friday to press for more international action to
pressure the military junta toward dialogue with the opposition.
Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location in Myanmar to a public meeting at
the Asia Society in New York, the monk was identified by organizers as "U
Gambira," a name he took as leader of a group calling itself the All Burma Monks
Alliance.

"The military junta is still arresting people at the Buddhist monasteries every
night and every day," the monk was quoted as saying by Aung Din, a former
political prisoner who translated the monk's remarks to the audience in New
York.

"He said there are many soldiers surrounding the Buddhist monasteries and also
in the streets," Aung Din said.

The . Security Council heard a report from special envoy Ibrahim Gambari
earlier Friday in which he warned of international consequences from the harsh
crackdown in the former Burma.

But China, a close ally of Myanmar, and the United States clashed over whether
the international community should take any action through the . Security
Council.

Aung Din said the monk, who is in hiding, welcomed a resolution by the .
Human Rights Council this week deploring beatings, killings and arbitrary
detentions during the recent unrest and calling for an investigation into the
violations.

"He says that they are aware of the action by the international community but he
feels this is not enough to stop the violence in Burma," Aung Din said.

"They hear about action of the international community and he welcomes the
action of the Human Rights Council but he feels these are not enough. He would
like to have the international community be more active, more effective and more
responsive."

"International assistance is needed urgently because the military junta is
trying every brutal method of keeping on to power," Aung Din quoted the monk as
saying.

Aung Din, who is policy director of the . Campaign for Burma, said the
Security Council should pass a resolution calling for an end to repression of
demonstrators, the release of political prisoners and the start of dialogue.

"We also want the . Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against the
military junta, which include an arms embargo, a travel ban on top generals and
their family members, and a ban on investment," Aung Din said in his own speech.
Aung Din said he believed more than 200 protesters, including monks and
students, had been killed in the protests -- far more than the dozen deaths
reported by the government.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, . special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said
he was hopeful about international action given the strong consensus at the
Human Rights Council, where even China and Russia agreed to the resolution.

Pinheiro has been denied a visa to visit Myanmar for four years but he said he
was still hoping to go and that there were positive signs despite the resistance
of China and Russia toward a Security Council resolution.

"Let's not despair at this moment," he told the meeting."I can't guarantee that
something positive will happen but I think that we are living at a moment where
things are moving and perhaps this famous 'international community' will have
some effect."
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