Irish efforts to calm Burma crisis

IRISH Government diplomats were yesterday making behind-the-scenes efforts with Asian countries in an urgent bid to calm the worsening political situation in Burma.

As the international outcry at the military clampdown on protesters grows, the issue was also raised in the Dáil yesterday.

Repeating calls for an end to the bloodshed, Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern launched a diplomatic offensive with officials in China, India and other countries with influence in southeast Asia.