Myanmar repression can have 'serious repercussions': UN envoy
Posted: 05 October 2007 2339 hrs

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	Special Report • Turmoil In Myanmar

UNITED NATONS - UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari Friday warned the Myanmar turmoil could have serious repercussions, as the US signalled it may push for UN sanctions if the military kept up a crackdown on protestors.

"No country can afford to act in isolation from the standards by which all members of the international community are held," said Gambari in his first report to UN Security Council since his return Thursday from his Asian trip.

"It is therefore essential for Myanmar's leadership to recognize that what happens inside Myanmar can have serious international repercussions."

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the 15-member council that "the people of Burma must not be let down."

Washington was prepared to introduce a sanctions resolution if Myanmar's military regime fails to cooperate with Gambari, he said.

But China, which has close ties with Myanmar and favours constructive engagement with its military regime, warned putting pressure on the military "would lead to confrontation."

China has already opposed UN sanctions, when in January in a rare double move with Russia, the two countries by vetoing a draft US-sponsored resolution urging Myanmar's rulers to free all political detainees and end sexual violence by the military.

But Myanmar has been pushed to the top of the UN agenda again, after last week's pro-democracy protests drawing more than 100,000 people onto the streets of Yangon led to a violent crackdown and the arrests of more than 2,000 people.

Gambari, who was swiftly dispatched to the Southeast Asian nation amid international alarm over the crackdown, said the protests sparked by a hike in fuel prices highlighted the depth of discontent in the country.

"The demonstrations over the past few weeks are for the most part the expression of deep and widespread discontent about socio-economic conditions in the country," he told an open meeting attended by about 20 Myanmar monks.

The United States has already slapped travel bans on the military's top leaders and frozen their assets.

But Khalilzad, the US envoy to the UN, said: "If the Burmese regime does not respond constructively to the demands of the international community in a timely manner, the United States is prepared to introduce a resolution in the Security Council imposing sanctions."

He said all council members must be prepared "to consider measures such arms embargoes to convince the ruling military to cooperate with Gambari.

China however urged the council to adopt "a prudent and responsible approach."

"If the situation in Myanmar takes a worst turn because of external intervention, it will be the people of the country who will bear the brunt," the Chinese envoy Wang Guangya said.

"This is the last thing that China as well as other neighbours of Myanmar and other countries want to see."

He suggested that the international community help Myanmar achieve national reconciliation and democratic progress by "offering constructive engagement and mediation."

Meanwhile UN chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed an offer by Myanmar's rulers to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi if she drops her call for sanctions against the regime and urged "both parties to meet as soon as possible."

"A serious and comprehensive political dialogue between the government and the political opposition is indispensable, he added."

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past 18 years under house arrest, is a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said she would consider the offer "in a positive light.

The UN chief reiterated that "the use of force against peaceful demonstrators is abhorrent and unacceptable" and expressed hope that those arrested in the military crackdown "will be released without further delay."

The White House has called on the Security Council to send Gambari back to Myanmar as soon as possible to work with the military towards a peaceful transition to democracy, after talks on Friday between the top US envoy there and the regime proved unproductive.

Gambari later huddled with members of the Security Council in a private, closed-door session to discuss the crisis.- AFP/ir/ls