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Burma: the history behind the protests

Burma (officially named Myanmar) has been under de facto military rule, in one guise or another, since 1962. In 1987, Burma received least developed nation status, inflation was out of control, and demonetization of Burmese bank notes had impoverished the middle class.

A spark was provided by a fight between students and locals at a teashop in 1988, but like the present demonstrations, which were initiated by increases in fuel prices, protests quickly coalesced around the issue of Democracy, whose introduction, it was widely believed, would invite effective government and sound economic policies.

Instead, the military reacted swiftly and harshly. In general appearance, the present demonstrations appear eerily reminiscent of those in July and August 1988.

Nevertheless, there are key differences. Of course, the current demonstrations are on a smaller scale, even given the recent crowd of 100,000 in Rangoon (also known as Yangon), but this may change over the next few days or weeks if they are not quickly suppressed by Burmese riot police and soldiers.

More importantly, while monks did participate in the 1988 demonstrations, they did not lead them, which is a unique feature of the present protests. Monastic garb provides some protection against soldiers who might easily fire on a civilian, but who would suffer a serious loss of merit in harming or even killing a monk.

Moreover, while government propaganda has for two decades portrayed Aung San Suu Kyi and the opposition party the National League for Democracy (NLD) as agents manipulated by the West, hurting their appeal, monks command the respect of most in Burmese society both outside the army and within it.

Although according to the Vinaya, the Buddhist monastic code, monks are not supposed to involve themselves in mundane politics, in Burmese history monks have played an important role in social activism, especially in the 1920s when they led rural opposition to colonial authorities and urban moneylenders. This is due to colonial heritage.

As the British turned the traditional intermediaries between the throne and the villager, the village headmen, into agents responsible only to the colonial state in the 19th century, Burmese communal identity and cooperation centred on monks. In a society where the two main institutions are the military and the monastic order, it is only natural, when the regime permits no other outlets for dissent, that monks should stand up and play again their historic role in voicing the complaints of Burma’s general population against military rule.

In September 1988, a military coup established the first of two military 'councils' that have ruled the country and whose members and their respective families have pillaged the economy through privatization ever since. At the time, the regime promised to improve the economy, provide peace, and ensure stability to set the right conditions for the transfer of power to an elected government. Although the regime permitted elections in 1990 it refused to recognize the sweeping victory of the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi, who continues to remain under house arrest.

The Western and Japanese response to the failure of the regime to recognize the NLD’s 1990 electoral victory was too slow and fluctuating to be effective. Sanctions imposed on the country in the last two decades have thus appeared to be ineffective in the short term.

A lifeline was also thrown to the regime by members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) who were more interested in gaining an economic stake in the country than supporting Democracy. As Western sanctions have expanded and ASEAN has begun to reconsider the domestic situation in Burma as a threat to stability in the region, the regime has had time to reorient itself economically to the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which was just as anxious to draw Burma into its economic orbit, gain access to its natural gas and oil reserves, and to gain more direct access to Indian Ocean trade.

However, Western sanctions may have been crucial in an indirect way over the long term. The regime’s dependence on the PRC has made it vulnerable to shifts in the PRC’s international relations. Although the PRC has played a key role in stymieing attempts to bring the Burmese situation up before the UN Security Council, it is also concerned about improving its international profile now that it is sponsoring the 2008 Olympics and is eager to counter the negative press resulting from recent problems with Chinese exports to the US and elsewhere.

Moreover, the PRC is most interested in political stability on its frontiers. Although backing the military regime in Burma has appeared to be a safe bet in pursuit of this goal, widespread domestic opposition in Burma and the promise of rallying at the UN against the regime may change this view.

Indeed, recent reports suggest that the PRC is finally pressuring the military regime in Burma to engage in serious negotiations with the Democratic opposition. Unable to turn to anyone else, the regime is increasingly finding itself stuck in a corner and will either have to fold or more completely isolate itself from the international community.

It is well past the time when the kind of increased US sanctions promised by President George Bush would have had any tangible impact on Burma’s domestic political situation. Currently, the only realistic chances for Western states to encourage a peaceful transfer of power in the country is to exert soft pressure on the PRC to persuade Burma’s military leadership to relinquish control of the state to those elected in 1990.

The Saffron Revolution

    The situation hangs on a knife’s edge; the next few days will show which way things will break. But one can only hope that a combination of the Burmese “People’s Power”, Western pressure and Chinese non-intervention can jointly engineer a Buddhist miracle in 2007 to match that ascribed to the Virgin Mary in the Philippines in 1986. “The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfills Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.”

    …In “People’s Power” situations it is the psychological momentum which counts the most. The Burmese junta looks to be timing its counterstrokes to first slow, then break the will of the resistants. Unless some dramatic defection or collapse provides fresh impetus to the protesters, the process of peaceful protest will either be smothered or risk transformation into violent confrontation.

Latest news from the front is that 17 monks have been beaten and one reportedly shot dead outside Rangoon’s holiest shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda:

    Anti-government protesters turned out again today to march in their thousands in defiance of a ban on public gatherings.

    Burma troops fire shots and tear gas at monks But crowds outside Rangoon’s holiest shrine, the Shwedagon Pagoda, were left severely bloodied after they were beaten by troops wielding batons. Witnesses said at least 17 monks were injured in the beatings, while hundreds of people were arrested and dragged onto waiting trucks.

    A radio station run by the protest movement reported that one monk had been killed. A crowd of around 700 protesters, many of who were wearing masks or wet towels to protect against tear gas, was confronted by troops near the pagoda.

    Warning shots were fired at around one hundred monks who refused to be chased away and tried to hold their positions near the eastern gate of the vast pagoda complex. Several thousand demonstrators later regrouped to march to the city’s Sule Pagoda, with the monks in the middle and members of the public on either side.

Gordon Brown has called for a UN Security Council meeting on what are the biggest anti-government protests in 20 years.

“The whole world is now watching Burma,” he said.

    Savvy young bloggers in Burma are breaking through the military junta’s tight internet controls to post photos and videos of swelling anti-government protests.

    The government blocks almost every website that carries news or information about the South-East Asian country, and even bars access to web-based email.

    But an army of young techies in Rangoon works around the clock to circumvent the censors, posting pictures and videos on blogs almost as soon as the protests happen.

    Many of these images have been picked up by mainstream news organisations because bloggers have managed to capture images that no one else can get.

    Aung Zaw, editor of Irrawaddy, a news magazine for expatriate Burmese living in Thailand told The Age bloggers and underground journalists in Burma were risking arrest in communicating with the outside world.

    He said Irrawaddy had several reporters in Burma who used the internet, email and mobile phones to send stories and images to their colleagues in Thailand.

Will this be like the “People Power” revolution in the Philippines or will it end up being another Tiananmen Square?

EU warns against military crackdown in Burma
26.09.2007 - 09:26 CET | By Renata Goldirova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The EU has threatened tougher sanctions against Burma if the military regime reacts with violence to the mounting anti-government protests, with reports suggesting Burmese police have used batons and tear gas to beat back monks and other demonstrators.

"I urge the government of Burma/Myanmar to exercise maximum restraint", EU external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement on Tuesday (25 September), underlining "the demonstrators are merely using their inalienable right of freedom of expression".


The Portuguese EU presidency – speaking on behalf of all 27 EU capitals – has also called on the Burmese authorities "not to use violence against people who are committed to non-violence" or the country will face new sanctions.

"The EU further underlines to the authorities in Nay Pyi Taw that it will reinforce and strengthen the existing sanctions regime, should they resort to using violence against the unarmed and peaceful demonstrators", Portugal's statement says.

The situation started to come to a head on 15 August when the ruling military junta decided to double the price of petrol and diesel – a move that hit ordinary people hard.

The streets of Burma's towns have since filled with tens of thousands of civilians and Buddhist monks carrying out peaceful demonstrations.

In response, the army has stepped up its presence on the streets and declared a 60-day evening curfew along with a ban on gatherings of more than five people.

According to the BBC, police have started to crack down on the crowd, with warning shots fired. Troops are reportedly surrounding key Buddhist sites around the city of Rangoon.

The question is now whether the generals - in power since 1962 - will use force to disperse the gatherings in a way they did during protests against military oppression in 1988.

Human rights group estimate at least 3,000 people were killed back then.

EU commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said "this difficult situation could be turned into a huge opportunity for political reform" and she urged the Burmese authorities to respect human rights as well as to release all political detainees.

EU sanctions have been in Burma since 1996.

The measures include an arms embargo, suspension of defence cooperation, suspension of trade privileges as well as a visa ban and an assets freeze for top officials of the regime. EU-registered companies are also prohibited from making finance available to state-owned enterprises.

On the other hand, the 27-nation bloc has maintained its humanitarian assistance to the country.

MEPs debate
In response to the political turmoil, MEPs have decided to debate the situation today, with three political groups – the liberals, the greens and the European United Left – also pushing for a resolution on the issue.

"What is going today in Burma is something which hasn't happened since 1988", Italian green MEP Monica Frassoni said, adding that the EU "cannot stay silent." "Publicizing the issue is something we have to do," she stated.

However, the assembly is itself split over the issue, with some lawmakers in favour of the debate, but wanting to postpone the adoption of a resolution for next parliamentary session.

EU warns against military crackdown in Burma (http://euobserver.com/9/24842)

Bush Imposes Economic Sanctions on Key Officials From Myanmar's Government

The Bush administration imposed economic sanctions against senior officials of Myanmar on Thursday, condemning the military-run government's crackdown on protesters.

The Treasury Department announced the sanctions against 14 senior officials of Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"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," President Bush said in a statement.

"We feel admiration and compassion for the monks and peaceful protesters calling for democracy," Bush said. "Every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand up for people suffering under a brutal military regime like the one that has ruled Burma for too long."

Among those targeted for the sanctions are the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and the No. 2 man in the military regime, Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye.

The action by Treasury will freeze any assets that the individuals targeted have in U.S. banks or other financial institutions under U.S. jurisdiction. The order also prohibits any U.S. citizens from doing business with the designated individuals.

"The president has made it clear that we will not stand by as the regime tries to silence the voices of the Burmese people through repression and intimidation," said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

At the United Nations on Tuesday, Bush announced that the administration would impose new sanctions against the military dictatorship in Myanmar, accusing it of imposing "a 19-year reign of fear" that denies basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship.

Bush called on all nations that have influence with the regime to join the United States in supporting the aspirations of the "Burmese people and to tell the Burmese junta to cease using force on its own people, who are peacefully expressing their desire for change."

Bush said that by its own account, the junta already has killed at least nine nonviolent demonstrators, and many others have been injured and arrested as they seek to express their views peacefully.

"I urge the Burmese soldiers and police not to use force on their fellow citizens," he said. "I call on those who embrace the values of human rights and freedom to support the legitimate demands of the Burmese people."

As the Treasury Department announced details of the sanctions, the White House called on the junta to allow a U.N. special envoy full access to all relevant parties, including those jailed by the junta and religious leaders, while he is in Myanmar, beginning Friday.

Burma breaks up rallies, cuts Internet 
Fears arise that deadly crackdown set to intensify

Soldiers clubbed activists in the streets and fired warning shots Friday, moving decisively to break up demonstrations in Myanmar before they could gain momentum. Troops occupied Buddhist monasteries and cut public Internet access, raising concerns that the crackdown on civilians that has killed at least 10 people was set to intensify.

Troops also fired tear gas to break up a demonstration of about 2,000 people in the largest city, Yangon, witnesses said. Five protesters were seen being dragged into a truck and driven away. The clash in an area near the Sule Pagoda was the most serious of the several sporadic—though smaller—protests that were reported.

By sealing monasteries, the government seemed intent on clearing the streets of monks, who have spearheaded the demonstrations and are revered by most of their Myanmar countrymen. This could embolden troops to crack down harder on remaining civilian protesters.

Efforts to squelch the demonstrations appeared to be working. Daily protests drawing tens of thousands of people had grown into the stiffest challenge to the ruling military junta in two decades, a crisis that began Aug. 19 with rallies against a fuel price increase, then escalated dramatically when monks joined in.

Security forces first moved against the anti-government protesters on Wednesday, when the first of the 10 deaths was reported. Images of bloodied protesters and fleeing crowds have riveted world attention on the escalating crisis, prompting many governments to urge the junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to end the violence.

The United States imposed new sanctions on the junta's leaders, and the United Nations dispatched a special envoy, who is expected to arrive Saturday.

Earlier Friday, soldiers and riot police moved quickly to disperse a crowd of 300 that started marching in Yangon, sealing the surrounding neighborhood and ordering them to disperse. Elsewhere, they fired warning shots to scatter a group of 200.

Bob Davis, Australia's ambassador to Myanmar, said he had heard unconfirmed reports that "several multiples of the 10 acknowledged by the authorities" may have been killed by troops in Yangon. Scores have been arrested, carted away in trucks at night or pummeled with batons in recent days, witnesses and diplomats said, with the junta ignoring all international appeals for restraint.

"The military was out in force before they even gathered and moved quickly as small groups appeared breaking them up with gunfire, tear gas and clubs," said Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar.

"It's tragic. These were peaceful demonstrators, very well behaved."

British Ambassador Mark Canning told BBC-TV that "there have been a lot of arrests," with up to 50 people detained at one time.

Video emerged of a striking image—the shooting death Thursday of a man identified as Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai of the video agency APF News.

The Democratic Voice of Burma released video of security forces opening fire on protesters, including a man falling forward after apparently being shot at point-blank range, and the opposition shortwave radio station based in Norway said the victim was Nagai, 50.

Another image posted on the Web site of Japanese TV network Fuji showed Nagai lying in the street, camera still in hand, with a soldier pointing his rifle down at him.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations expressed "revulsion" at the violence in Myanmar and told the junta "to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution." Demonstrations against the junta were seen in Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere.

But by Myanmar standards, the crackdown has so far been muted, in part because the regime knows that killing monks could trigger a maelstrom of fury.

Southeast Asian envoys were told by Myanmar authorities Friday that a no-go zone had been declared around five key Buddhist monasteries, one diplomat said, raising fears of a repeat of 1988, when troops gunned down thousands of peaceful demonstrators and imprisoned the survivors.

Gates were locked and key intersections near monasteries in Yangon and the second-largest city of Mandalay were sealed off with barbed wire, and there was no sign of monks in the streets.

"We were told security forces had the monks under control" and will now turn their attention to civilian protesters, the Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The government's apparent decision to cut public Internet access—which has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro- democracy protests to the outside world—also raised concerns.

Thursday was the most violent day in more than a month of protests—which at their height have brought an estimated 70,000 demonstrators to the streets. Bloody sandals lay scattered on some streets as protesters fled shouting "Give us freedom, give us freedom!"

Truckloads of troops in riot gear also raided Buddhist monasteries on the outskirts of Yangon, beating and arresting dozens of monks, witnesses and Western diplomats said.

"I really hate the government. They arrest the monks while they are sleeping," said a 30-year-old service worker who saw some of the confrontations from his workplace. "These monks haven't done anything except meditating and praying and helping people."

The United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was heading to the country to promote a political solution and could arrive as early as Saturday, one Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Though some analysts said negotiations were unlikely, the diplomat said the decision to let Gambari in "means they may see a role for him and the United Nations in mediating dialogue with the opposition and its leaders."

The protesters won support from countrymen abroad as more than 2,000 Myanmar immigrants rallied peacefully in Malaysia and smaller demonstrations against the junta took place in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

China, Myanmar's largest trading partner, for months quietly counseled the regime to speed up its long-stalled political reforms. Some analysts say Beijing would hate to be viewed as party to a bloodbath as it prepares to welcome the world to the 2008 Olympics.

"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," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing Thursday.

But every other time the regime has been challenged, it has responded with force.

"Judging from the nature and habit of the Myanmar military, they will not allow the monks or activists to topple them," said Chaiyachoke Julsiriwong, a Myanmar scholar at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

Citizen journalists' evade Burma blackout 
Breaking news of regime's violent crackdown on protesters

As Myanmar's regime cracks down on a growing protest movement, "citizen journalists" are breaking the news to the world.

At 1:30 yesterday afternoon, a cellphone buzzed with news for Soe Myint, the editor in chief of Mizzima News, a publication about Myanmar run by exiles in New Delhi.

The message: "There is a tourist shot down" in Yangon, the center of recent protests by Buddhist monks and others against the military junta in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Troops there were clearing the streets, telling protesters they had just minutes to go home -- or be shot.

The text message wasn't from one of Soe Myint's reporters. In fact, he doesn't know who sent the message. He believes it came from one of the more than 100 students, activists and ordinary citizens who have been feeding him reports, images and video of the violent events unfolding in recent days.

In the age of YouTube, cellphone cameras and text messaging, technology is playing a critical role in helping news organizations and international groups follow Myanmar's biggest protests in nearly two decades. Citizen witnesses are using cellphones and the Internet to beam out images of bloodied monks and street fires, subverting the Myanmar government's effort to control media coverage and present a sanitized version of the uprising. The Associated Press reported yesterday that soldiers in Yangon fired automatic weapons into a crowd of demonstrators as tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters converged in the capital. Wire services have reported the number of dead at nine, citing the state media.

The BBC, which has a Burmese language Web site and radio service, is encouraging its audience to send in photos, like the ones it received of a monk's monastery that had been ransacked by authorities. A shaky video, now on YouTube, shows a sea of chanting and clapping monks draped in red robes marching down a street, past Buddhist monuments. One blog features a photo showing two abandoned, bloodstained sandals.

Another blog was updated at 3 p.m. Myanmar time yesterday with a few English lines: "Right now they're using fire engines and hitting people and dragging them onto E2000 trucks and most of them are girls and people are shouting." Below the post is a blurry photo of trucks with the caption, "This is how they come out and try to kill people."

Who produced these reports -- or how the information got out of Myanmar -- hasn't been established. But that's the point in a country where people caught protesting or writing against the government risk years in prison.

The last time there was a protest of this scale in Myanmar was 1988, when a pro-democracy uprising was crushed by the military and more than 3,000 people died. First reports of that event came from diplomats and official media. "Technology has changed everything," says Aung Zaw, a Myanmar exile whose Thailand publication Irrawaddy has been covering events in Burma hour-by-hour, with reports gathered online. "Now in a split second, you have the story," says the editor.

According to the AP, on Thursday Myanmar's state-run newspaper blamed the protests in Yangon, formerly called Rangoon, on "saboteurs inside and outside the nation." It also said that the demonstrations were much smaller than foreign media were reporting.

The events are a trial by fire for so-called citizen journalists, who cover events that professional journalists can't get to. The Myanmar government has successfully kept out many reporters, some of whom are filing their stories about events in Myanmar from India and Thailand.

The AP, Reuters and other media have been retransmitting photos and reports given to them by exile media organizations like Mizzima, Irrawaddy, and the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma. Those outfits are acting as a clearinghouse for images and reports produced by people in Myanmar.

Time Warner Inc.'s CNN, which had its own reporter in Myanmar on Wednesday, has also been airing 65 clips and pictures from tourists and Myanmar residents sent in via its "ireport" citizen-journalist system.

"When traditional methods and professional journalists can't provide footage, and personal safety allows, citizens rise to the challenge time and again, often with remarkable material," said Ellana Lee, the managing editor of CNN Asia Pacific in an email. "Even in countries like Myanmar, the spread of the Internet and mobile phones has meant that footage will always continue to get through and the story will be told, one way or another."

Still, working with inexperienced journalists can be a challenge for news organizations that want to publish credible, balanced information. Reuters, which has a reporter stationed in Yangon, says content from citizen journalists is rigorously checked for accuracy.

Speaking of his correspondents, Aung Zaw, the editor of Irrawaddy, says, "They are doing their job on the ground, and nobody is even giving them the assignment. It is our job to check again with our sources, to see how close to the truth it is."

For example, he says his staff had a long discussion on Wednesday night about how many deaths had occurred during that day's bloody protests. The government was reporting one death, but his sources were saying possibly three, six or seven people died. In the end, after counting known specific cases, Irrawaddy made the "very difficult call" to say there were six deaths, says Aung Zaw. "We also said this number couldn't be confirmed."

After Mizzima's Soe Myint received his text message about Thursday's tourist shooting, he asked one of the 10 reporters who work for him in Myanmar to verify the claim. An hour and a half after the initial report, Mizzima reported on its Web site that a 30-year old foreigner was injured in gunfire, and that an American flag was found with his bag. Security people also seized his video camera, the report said.

Soe Myint says his grassroots reporting system is in place because his organization has been building a base of supporters in the country for years: "This is not the work of one day. We have been getting ready for this for the last nine years. People know our work and how to reach us."

The safety of everyone trying to report from Myanmar now is cause for concern. Yesterday, a Japanese photojournalist was killed, and another foreign reporter was injured, according to reports. State media yesterday reported 11 people were injured in Yangon on Thursday, but it didn't specify who they were.

One blogger dubbed "Moezack," whose photos and descriptions of the protests -- sometimes posted minutes after events occurred -- were picked up by the international press, had stopped blogging. His "Today Burma" blog is currently empty, and his whereabouts are unknown to several international groups, though he might be blogging under another name.

The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders says that many of the people sending reports out of Yangon are former journalists and activists, some of whom have at some point been jailed for their work. "They do it because they are part of the struggle," says the group's Asia program director, Vincent Brossel.

Myanmar is hardly a technological hub. Cellphones are expensive, and the Internet penetration rate is less than 1%. Even before the recent clash, the government has taken serious steps to censor Internet content, blocking access to popular foreign news and email services. A 2005 report by the Open Net Initiative, run out of several universities, said that Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council has implemented "one of the world's most restrictive regimes of Internet control."

Yet activists and students in Burma have become particularly skilled at using technological tricks to bypass those restrictions -- some of them borrowed from China, where the government also censors the Internet. These include using proxies, which create a hole in the censorship network by connecting directly to one computer outside the country.

Reporters Without Borders says that at 3 p.m. yesterday, authorities disconnected most of the country's cellphone lines, preventing journalists and demonstrators from reporting on events. Authorities have also closed some Internet cafes in Yangon, effectively shutting down many blogs and Web sites.

The Internet has slowed so that it has been difficult to send out photographs and video. It took several hours for pictures to emerge of Wednesday's shootings, says Mr. Brossel.

So now groups determined to get news out are turning to costly but independent satellite phones, which can't as easily be monitored by the government.

Irrawaddy's Aung Zaw remains confident. "The more they try to suppress information, the more will come out."

Burma: Thousands dead in massacre of monks
Former intelligence officer for ruling junta reveals bodies dumped in jungle

Thousands of protesters are dead and the bodies of hundreds of executed monks have been dumped in the jungle, a former intelligence officer for Burma's ruling junta has revealed.

The most senior official to defect so far, Hla Win, said: "Many more people have been killed in recent days than you've heard about. The bodies can be counted in several thousand."

Mr Win, who spoke out as a Swedish diplomat predicted that the revolt has failed, said he fled when he was ordered to take part in a massacre of holy men. He has now reached the border with Thailand.

Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy was in Burma's new capital today seeking meetings with the ruling military junta.

Ibrahim Gambari met detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon yesterday. But he has yet to meet the country's senior generals as he attempts to halt violence against monks and pro-democracy activists.

It is anticipated the meeting will happen tomorrow.

Heavily-armed troops and police flooded the streets of Rangoon during Mr Ibrahim's visit to prevent new protests.

Mr Gambari met some of the country's military leaders in Naypyidaw yesterday and has returned there for further talks. But he did not meet senior general Than Shwe or his deputy Maung Aye - and they have issued no comment.

Reports from exiles along the frontier confirmed that hundreds of monks had simply "disappeared" as 20,000 troops swarmed around Rangoon yesterday to prevent further demonstrations by religious groups and civilians.

Word reaching dissidents hiding out on the border suggested that as well as executions, some 2,000 monks are being held in the notorious Insein Prison or in university rooms which have been turned into cells.

There were reports that many were savagely beaten at a sports ground on the outskirts of Rangoon, where they were heard crying for help.

Others who had failed to escape disguised as civilians were locked in their bloodstained temples.

There, troops abandoned religious beliefs, propped their rifles against statues of Buddha and began cooking meals on stoves set up in shrines.

In stark contrast, the streets of Rangoon and Mandalay - centres of the attempted saffron revolution last week - were virtually deserted.

A Swedish diplomat who visited Burma during the protests said last night that in her opinion the revolution has failed.

Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. "The Burma revolt is over," she added.

"The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.

"Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear."

Mrs Agerlid said Rangoon is heavily guarded by soldiers.

"There are extremely high numbers of soldiers in Rangoon's streets," she added. "Anyone can see it is absolutely impossible for any demonstration to gather, or for anyone to do anything.

"People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned."

The diplomat also said that three monasteries were raided yesterday afternoon and are now totally abandoned.

At his border hideout last night, 42-year-old Mr Win said he hopes to cross into Thailand and seek asylum at the Norwegian Embassy.

The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon's northern region, added: "I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks.

"They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this."

With his teenage son, he made his escape from Rangoon, leaving behind his wife and two other sons.

He had no fears for their safety because his brother is a powerful general who, he believes, will defend the family.

Mr Win's defection will raise a faint hope among tens of thousands of Burmese who have fled to villages along the Thai border.

They will feel others in the army may follow him and turn on their ageing leaders, Senior General Than Shwe and his deputy, Vice Senior General Maung Aye.

Burma converts to Christianity facing crackdown
Being excluded from homes, villages in Buddhism-dominated nation

The Burma military government's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators has raised alarms among world powers in recent days, but that's only one of the head-to-head clashes occurring in the Asian nation, according to Voice of the Martyrs, the worldwide ministry to persecuted Christians.

The second war being waged is the crackdown on Buddhists who renounce their old gods in favor of Christianity.

"Please pray for me," begs a 65-year-old man in message to VOM, "as I have been forced to leave my village, my wife and my two children who I love dearly.

"I pray that I may soon be able to return back to them. I love them but I cannot do what they have asked me to do – curse my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, come back to Buddha and my family."

(Story continues below)

The testimony, VOM said, is representative from individuals who come to Christianity in Burma.

This man tells of his faithfulness to Buddhism over his lifetime. Then, he said, "One day we were sitting at the temple entrance receiving collections from the people, one of the Christians passing by gave me a tract."

He said he kept it, and took him home and read it.

"When I read this tract it spoke of receiving the gift of eternal life when believing Jesus Christ. I started to question and wonder, 'How can we know eternal life? What is this eternal life the tract spoke of?'"

He asked his family, and, "They simply joked about it, saying, 'Father you are a good man, you will surely be a rich man in your next life.' But the thought would not leave me, I felt it deeply as I was growing older. When I die, will there be a place that I go to? So I kept thinking about this over and over in my heart and mind, until finally at midnight I called on Jesus, 'Lord Jesus I believe, please give me eternal life.' The Lord Jesus heard my prayer and answered my call.

"Then the light shone into my soul, light in my heart which was great joy. Simply stated, I am at peace, a real peace in my heart which I had never experienced before, which is difficult to put into words," he told Voice of the Martyrs.

He said he had been worshipping his Buddha statue every day. "Early the next morning I knew in my heart that I must throw out the image of Buddha … Without speaking to my wife, I took the image and threw it into a small river near my village," he said. "When my wife woke up and was preparing an offering to the image of Buddha, it was gone! She was very upset asking, 'What is happening here? Where are the gods?' I told her I had thrown them away."

She got angry, then called the authorities.

"They came to my home – policemen, firemen, the local security forces, in all about 25 people. All asking at once what had happened. I told them that I had found the True and Living God, Who loved me and had given me eternal life," he said. "They proceeded to tell me I was not worthy to live. Then I was imprisoned for five days when they tried to convince me to give up this foolish belief and convert back to Buddhism. Thank God, the Lord Jesus gave me strength to face and overcome these trials."

But he said he was ejected from his home, and his town, and he hopes to be allowed to return at some point.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on my family and my fellow-villagers," he said.

Burma has been one of the least accessible nations in the world over its history. A government website notes "for the majority of the population, Buddhism is the center of individual life and the monastery is the center of the community."

It recent days, however, the nation has been the focal point of international attention because of pro-democracy protests staged by villagers, and the military government's response.

The United Nations has made plans for an emergency session on human rights abuses after soldiers clubbed activists in the streets and occupied monasteries. Government officials said 10 people have been killed, while activist groups estimate fatalities at 20 times than number.

Even the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Burma as a member, issued a statement that it was "appalled" by the violent clashes.

Laos and Cambodia slam Myanmar sanctions
Sun Nov 18, 2007 7:16am EST
 
By Geert De Clercq

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Laos and Cambodia condemned the Western economic sanctions imposed on Myanmar after its brutal crackdown on democracy protests, calling on fellow members of the ASEAN regional bloc to stay out of each other's affairs.

Laos, a poor and landlocked communist state of 6.5 million people, has close political and economic ties with Myanmar. It was the first country Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein visited after his appointment last month.

"We denounce the imposition of sanctions or economic embargoes against Myanmar," Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh told Reuters in an interview on Sunday ahead of an Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also rejected sanctions, ahead of a summit in Singapore on Tuesday where ASEAN leaders will sign a charter that calls for promotion of human rights.

"Economy sanctions are no good. They will not make the leaders of Myanmar die, but will lead to disaster for the civilian population. They are counter-productive," Hun Sen said in reply to questions at a business forum.

Myanmar's junta in September crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years, killing at least 15 people. The crackdown brought condemnation and tougher sanctions from the United States and other Western countries.

The condemnation of sanctions The 10-nation Association of ASEAN -- which Myanmar and neighboring Laos joined in 1997, and Cambodia in 1999 -- has come under intense international pressure to get tougher on Myanmar.

"All measures taken to address the situation in Myanmar should be in strict conformity with ASEAN's fundamental principles," Bouphavanh said through a Lao government translator.

"ASEAN should adhere strictly to its fundamental principles of respecting each other's independence and sovereignty. The ASEAN principle of non-interference is a key element to maintain cohesiveness in ASEAN," he said.

Western nations that have imposed sanctions against Myanmar include the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

Singapore state broadcaster Channel News Asia's Web site quoted Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as saying that nobody in Asia supports sanctions against Myanmar.

"It's been tried in Iraq and nobody wants to have an Iraq in Southeast Asia," Lee was quoted as saying.

The United States expanded its sanctions against Myanmar's rulers in October, when it added 11 more Myanmar military leaders to a list already facing sanctions, and tightened U.S. export controls to the country.

The tightening of the export controls included a ban on the sale of high-performance computers to Myanmar.

The European Union also agreed in October to strengthen sanctions against Myanmar that included visa bans and asset freezes on generals, an export ban on equipment to sectors involving timber, metals, minerals, semi-precious and precious stones plus import and investment bans on the sectors.

On Friday, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to urge ASEAN to suspend Myanmar until the regime shows respect for human rights.

But ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong told Reuters on Saturday that this was unlikely to happen, as ASEAN states believe Myanmar is more likely to take the road to democracy if it stays within ASEAN.

Singapore has banned all outdoor protests and rejected an opposition party's request for a Myanmar pro-democracy protest in the city-state.

Laos and Cambodia slam Myanmar sanctions (http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSIN624520071118?sp=true)