U.S. envoy to meet Burma junta, recommend talks with opposition
Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says Junta chief Than Shwe not serious about holding direct talks.
By News Agencies and Haaretz Staff Tags: USThe chief U.S. diplomat in Burma has been invited to meet Friday with the military-led government that orchestrated a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last week, the State Department said Thursday.
Shari Villarosa will likely repeat the U.S. view that the regime must meet with democratic opposition groups and stop the iron crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in Washington.
Meanwhile, The party of Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday conditions set by junta leader Than Shwe showed he was not serious about holding direct talks with her.
"They are asking her to confess to offences that she has not committed," National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win told Reuters after state media announced Than Shwe's offer of talks if she agreed to certain conditions.
In the first official remarks since a visit by UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari this week, Than Shwe said he would hold direct talks with Aung San Suu Kyi if she publicly agreed to his conditions.
Burma's official newspaper the New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday that "foreign" elements were trying to sabotage the preparation of the state's new constitution with demonstrations.
After crushing large protests last week, the junta has begun dragging people from their homes at night and letting others know they are marked for detention.
Opposition sources in Burma said Wednesday that so far 200 to 300 monks have been killed in protests in a deadly crackdown on monks and civilians protesting steep price hikes and 45 years of brutal military rule. The sources said some 6,000 people have been arrested, including thousands of monks.
The sources said some of the monks were buried alive, while the bodies of others were burned in an open area some 25 kilometers from the capital Rangun.
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It can't give moral advice to other nations.
What they have done to these monks. G-d forbid, to bury them alive... It is true that breaking into peoples' homes at night, is the same tactic used by the American Army in Iraq, among others documented, like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. It does not make it right, G-d forbid, in Burma either. We know how much they care about the people they are meant to serve, and whom they oppress. There is no room for such a government that profits from the backs of its people. It should revert to civilian rule, just like Pakistan. This is what they are afraid of. And China is not a shining example that it would spearhead any kind of initiative. Cruel, repressive and barbaric. May those miserable generals one day pay for their inhumanity, whether in this world or the next. Better justice in this world. G-d hears.
US is not in a position to criticize other countries. their president is a war criminal himself. the world need to send envoys to the US.