ASEAN calls on Myanmar to stop using violence on protesters
Posted: 28 September 2007 0100 hrs

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UNITED NATIONS : Southeast Asian nations rounded on fellow member Myanmar on Thursday, demanding the ruling military stop using violence against pro-democracy protesters after nine people were killed.

As security forces swept through Myanmar's main city on Thursday arresting hundreds in a brutal crackdown on the ninth straight day of protests, world outrage mounted with the US slapping sanctions on 14 Myanmar leaders.

UN leaders were told by Myanmar officials that UN chief Ban Ki-moon's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, would be granted a visa to visit the country.

"The secretary general has been informed that his special envoy will be welcome in Myanmar," spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. "He is pleased."

But ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has long had a policy of non-interference in the affairs of Myanmar, had unusually sharp words for its fellow member at a meeting at the United Nations.

"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," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

The ministers "expressed their revulsion" over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar "are being suppressed by violent force and that there has been a number of fatalities," he said, after chairing the meeting.

They "strongly" urged Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution and wanted the ruling junta to resume national reconciliation with all parties and work towards a "peaceful" transition to democracy.

The unfolding drama on the streets of Yangon has dominated the agenda of the UN General Assembly here, and prompted calls from around the world for Myanmar to lay down their arms.

At least 50,000 people, many of them youths and students, swarmed into Yangon on Thursday undeterred by the deaths the day before of at least four protesters, including three Buddhist monks, and repeatedly defied orders to disperse.

In six hours of chaotic protests, Myanmar state media said nine people were killed, including a Japanese journalist, and another 11 protesters injured including one woman.

US President George W. Bush on Thursday said the world must press Myanmar's military rulers to end the violent crackdown and urged the junta to cooperate fully with UN envoy Gambari.

"I call on all nations that have influence with the regime to join us 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," he said in a statement.

The US administration also ordered a freeze on the assets of Myanmar's military leader and 13 other senior officials.

"We are today imposing sanctions against senior officials of the government of Burma," said Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Beleaguered Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win had skipped the ASEAN meeting at the last minute, instead sending his representative Thaung Tun, a senior government official, an ASEAN diplomat told AFP.

Thaung Tun mostly looked down as Yeo addressed reporters afterwards in his capacity as chairman of the ASEAN standing committee.

Yeo also said Nyan Win had informed them Myanmar would issue a visa to Gambari, and said ASEAN ministers urged Myanmar to grant him "full access" to all parties, including Nobel peace laureate and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 17 years.

ASEAN also warned Myanmar that the bloody crisis was having "a serious impact on the reputation and credibility of ASEAN."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said meanwhile the ASEAN stand was a victory for the thousands of demonstrators.

"This is a success for democracy and this is a success for the demonstrators in Myanmar," he told reporters in New York.

Japan, a top donor to Myanmar, had summoned the Myanmar's ambassador in Tokyo on Thursday to protest against the crackdown while South Korea urged Myanmar to refrain from suppressing the protesters.

The ASEAN ministers were scheduled to hold talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York later in the day. - AFP/de