UN envoy suggest incentives for Burma reform

The UN’s envoy to Burma suggested today that the country’s military rulers should be offered incentives to move toward democratic reforms.

The call came as the country’s junta released three prominent detainees it arrested in connection with recent pro-democracy protests.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, visiting Indonesia on a six-nation tour to press Asia to take the lead to resolve the crisis in Burma, also known as Myanmar, added that China – the junta’s top ally – could “continue to do more to really move the authorities” along the path of change.

“We are going to continue to see China as an ally,” he told reporters.

Mr Gambari said one approach could be “a combination of strong encouragement of the authorities in Myanmar to do the right thing along with some incentives to say that... the world is not there just to punish Myanmar”.

He did not elaborate, but his remarks came as the EU and countries such as the US widened sanctions imposed on the country.

Mr Gambari met junta leader Senior General Than Shwe in Burma earlier this month, as well as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but he has so far failed to bring about a dialogue between the two sides.

The UN envoy is supposed to return to Burma in November, but has said he hopes he can move the date up. He has already visited Thailand and Malaysia, and will also stop in Japan, India and China.

The junta said yesterday that it had detained nearly 3,000 people in connection with the protests, adding that hundreds remain in custody and that it is still hunting for others.

But the regime released the country’s best-known comedian, as well as a popular actor and his wife who had been taken into detention last month for openly supporting the anti-government demonstrations.

Relatives and entertainment sources said today that Zarganar, famed for his satirical jibes against the government, and actor Kyaw Thu along with his wife were released yesterday. Zarganar had been held since September 26 while Kyaw Thu was arrested on September 10.

London-based Amnesty International said yesterday that an increasing number of reports from Burma tell of deaths, torture, lack of food and medical treatment in overcrowded detention facilities across the country.

“The current arbitrary arrests, secret detention and widespread reports of ill-treatment and torture make a mockery of promises made by the Myanmar authorities to cooperate with the United Nations... for early release of all political prisoners,” a statement from the human rights group said.

The junta, meanwhile, continued its propaganda offensive against the pro-democracy movement.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported today that 48 blocks of TNT were found last week after investigations by authorities which led to U Kovida, a 23-year-old monk at Yangon’s Nan Oo monastery.

He reportedly hid the explosives in the monastery and then moved them to another location, where they were found.

The state media has circulated many stories seeking to discredit or denigrate the pro-democracy demonstrators, most of whom were non-violent. It earlier described finding pornography and other unsuitable material in monks’ quarters of monasteries that had been raided.

Mr Gambari’s suggestion of incentives is not a new one. In 1998, the United Nations and World Bank held secret talks with Burma’s government and opposition leaders to offer the junta 1 billion US dollars in financial and humanitarian aid if it would open a dialogue with the opposition.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said this week that economic support could be given to Myanmar if it opens a dialogue with its opponents, including Suu Kyi.