IPS-English POLITICS: Junta Snubs UN Yet Again
 
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:41:05 -0800

 
Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Dec 6  (IPS)  - Burma's military regime fired a warning
shot this week to let the United Nations and the international community
know that it will not cave into pressure on domestic political reform.


The junta's unequivocal stance was confirmed during a rare press
conference held by the country's information minister, Brig. Gen.
Kyaw Hsan, when he told reporters that the doors of the South-east
Asian nation were not open to influence from outside.

He also confirmed what many analysts had long suspected in the recent
months: the military rulers of Burma, which is also known as Myanmar,
are in no mood to welcome the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
currently in her 12th year under house arrest, to discussions on the

drafting of the new constitution.

‘'No assistance or advice from other persons is required,'' Kyaw
Hsan, who is a close confidante of Burma's strongman, Gen. Than Shwe,
said on Monday. The press conference was the first held by the junta
since 
the brutal crackdown of peaceful pro-democracy protesters in late September.

The comments came on the day the military-appointed Committee for
Drafting a New Constitution was to begin work. This phase is the third
in a seven-step ‘'roadmap'' to democracy that the junta has been touting

since it was unveiled in August, 2003. No time limit has been placed
for the 54 appointees of the committee to finish their task.

The U.N., however, has been pressing for a different outcome. Ibrahim
Gambari, a special U.N. envoy, had informed the international community
following two visits to Burma since the crackdown that Suu Kyi 
should be given a significant role to play in the political reform
process. The Nigerian diplomat had urged the junta to release her
from detention and to involve her in the constitution drafting process.

Initial signs suggested that the junta had warmed up to Gambari's
appeals, given that his mission was backed by some of the military
regime's allies, such as China and the governments in South-east Asia.
The junta permitted Suu Kyi to meet a government liaison officer,
Labour 
Minister Aung Kyi, on three occasions as part of a reconciliation
effort. After one of these broadly publicised meetings, she described
it as ‘'positive.''

But the early hope that emerged after these encounters has been dashed
with the junta reverting to its more familiar role of stubbornly defending
its entrenched positions. ‘'The junta wants to demonstrate that it
will not be cowed by international pressure and it doesn't want 
outside mediation,'' Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst living
in exile in Thailand, said in an interview. ‘'It is a sign that the
Burmese military has become more entrenched.''

The reaction from the U.S. government to this week's turn of events
was the first in what could be a litany of statements of condemnation
and disappointment from capitals across the world. After all Beijing
had 
backed Gambari's mission to Burma on behalf of the international
community and so had the members of the 10-nation regional bloc, the
Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is
a member.

‘'We condemn the Burmese regime's rejection of meaningful participation
for Aung San Suu Kyi and other democratic and ethnic minority leaders
in the process of drafting a national constitution,'' the U.S. department
of state spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement during a Tuesday
press briefing. ‘'The regime's December 3 statement to the diplomatic
corps make clear that Senior General Than Shwe and his regime have
no intention to begin a genuine, inclusive dialogue necessary for
a 
democratic transition.''

But this week's stance on political reform was not the only bullet
that junta had in store for the U.N. On Tuesday, the U.N. resident
coordinator Charles Petrie left Rangoon after the military regime
refused to extend his visa. Petrie had angered the regime by making
a media statement that was released by the local U.N. office in late
October expressing concerns about Burma's ‘'deteriorating humanitarian
condition.''

The U.N.'s view about increasing poverty in the country conveyed
what was widely known by then, since the pro-democracy protests in
September had evolved out of small public demonstrations that were
staged in mid-August after the junta raised the price of fuel by 500
percent 
overnight. Economic conditions have continued to worsen, according
to residents in Rangoon that IPS spoke with. Many who survive on a
daily wage are cutting back on meals.

The stakes have consequently increased for Gambari, who is due back
in Burma later this month or in early 2008, to engage the junta. ‘'Unless
Gambari can bring more leverage from the Security Council and China,
his next mission will be a failure,'' says Win Min, a Burmese academic
attached to Payap University, in Thailand's northern city of 
Chiang Mai. ‘'The junta feels it has less pressure on its back now
that the ASEAN summit is over.''

But there are growing signs within Burma that its oppressed people
have little reason for optimism, Win Min revealed during an interview.
‘'Most people have lost hope for political change to be achieved with
the help 
of the U.N. and the international community. They know now that nothing
will change as long as Than Shwe remains in power.''

It is a view shaped by the current regime's record. After all, the
first step in the ‘'roadmap'' to democracy was the reconvening of
a National Convention to draft the new charter. The initial round
of talks for this 
convention began 14 years ago as an effort to prevent the opposition
party that Suu Kyi heads, the National League for Democracy, from
forming a government after it secured a thumping mandate in the 1990
parliamentary elections. 



*****
+ Burma Marches On (http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/burma/index.asp)


(END/IPS/AP/WD/BM/IP/HD/CS/MMM/RDR/07)




 
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