Gordon Brown-Ban Ki Moon in Burma: The Chance for a New Beginning

by .huffingtonpost

When UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon meets the military dictatorship in Burma today he will have the whole world with him.

His mission, to persuade the junta to release all political prisoners and engage with democracy, is critical to the future of the Burmese people.

But it is also a crucial moment for the international community.

In recent weeks, we have seen an extraordinary consensus around the world in support of all those forced to suffer under the Burmese regime.

The UN, the EU, and ASEAN have all made clear the need for urgent change. More than 45 Heads of State have added their voices to the call.

How we respond to the injustices in Burma will send a message about our resolution to tackle similar abuses across the globe.

Political and humanitarian conditions in the country continue to deteriorate.

When over 140,000 were killed and millions made destitute by Cyclone Nargis last year the world’s efforts to help were resisted, a peaceful uprising by monks in 2007 was violently quashed, ethnic minorities are persecuted and under armed attack.

The media are muzzled, freedom of speech and assembly are non-existent and the number of political prisoners has doubled to more than 2000.

As Secretary-General Ban arrives, the most high profile of them — Aung San Suu Kyi — faces further persecution from the Generals as her sham trial resumes.

She has long been a symbol of hope and defiance during her 14 years as a prisoner of conscience.

She is a most courageous woman. In those long years, she has barely seen her two sons — yet is resolute in her faith in democracy and the Burmese people.

Her refusal to buckle in the face of tyranny is an inspiration.

I call on the regime to mark Ban Ki Moon’s arrival by immediately halting her trial, which makes a mockery of justice, and ending her detention which undermines their credibility in the eyes of the world.

But while hugely significant, this alone would not be the sole measure of progress.

Only agreement to release all political prisoners, start a genuine dialogue with the opposition and ethnic groups will give any credibility to the elections in 2010.

I hope that Ban Ki Moon can convince the Generals to take the first steps. A serious offer is on the table: the international community will work with Burma if the Generals are prepared to embark on a genuine transition to democracy.

But if the Burmese regime refuses to engage, the international community must be prepared to respond robustly.

We should not rest until Aung San Suu Kyi — and all those who share her commitment to a better and brighter future for Burma — are able to play their rightful role in it.

The Burmese people have been condemned to nearly half a century of conflict, poverty and isolation. It is time to give them the chance of a new beginning.

The regime can choose to ignore the clamour for change. Or it can choose the path of reform as the region, and the world, have urged.

Today can be the start.

UN SECRETARY BANKIMOON IN BURMA- 03 ,07, 2009 VDO

Another song for FREE Daw Aung San Suu

http://www.asskforfreeburma.com/
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Migrant News 3.07.09

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Information 3.July by Karen United

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UN chief gambles on Burma breakthrough

Ban Ki-moon is not a man known for taking risks. Yet his decision to visit Burma and meet its secretive military rulers – at a time when the rest of the world is outraged by their decision to put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial – is quite a gamble.
The visit was requested by the Burmese government.
The generals are rarely graced by the presence of figures of Mr Ban’s international stature in their bunker-like capital Nay Pyi Taw.
If the secretary-general gets nothing in return, he will be assailed by his detractors for being naive, for allowing the status of his high office to be used by a pariah regime.
Critics have already argued that a UN secretary-general’s visit should be a prize, to be awarded after significant concessions have been made, not before.
But if Mr Ban’s visit can revive a dialogue between the military and the opposition that has been dead for six years, he can chalk up the greatest achievements at the UN to date.
So what are his prospects?
Previous UN envoys have generally had little success in Burma.

U2 Concert in Barcelona -Daw Aung San Suu was there-vdo

Ban vs Than Shwe:“I told him that I wanted to meet her, but he told me that she is [on] trial,” “But I told him that this is my proposal, and this is important, and I’m waiting for their reply.”

If Ban is allowed to meet with Suu Kyi, he will be the first UN secretary-general to do so since her first period of detention started in 1989.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (L) takes part in a meeting with Burma’s junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe in the country’s capital Naypyidaw on July 3, 2009. (Photo: Getty Images

Two arrested, tortured without evidence after Three Pagodas bomb blast

Two arrested, tortured without evidence after Three Pagodas bomb blast
July 3, 2009
HURFOM: Because two bombs exploded in Three Pagodas Town, the Burmese army ordered the residents to increase the security.
Some locals and ceasefire leaders told HURFOM that they expect that the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) will attempt to use this event to ensnare cease-fire groups to act as Border Guard Forces (BGF).
The two bombs exploded on June 28th—the first at 8:20 p.m. near SPDC’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 32 and the second in the compound of the Military Intelligence Bureau about 3 minutes later. No injuries were reported.
Prior to the explosion, the SPDC arrested two people and later claimed they were responsible for the bombing. They tortured and detained them for a total of 5 hours.
One resident said, “The SPDC arrested two people, U Myo (55) and his son Pho La Pyae (20), who live in quarter No. 3, before the explosion happen at 8 p.m.…they were asked about the Karen National Union (KNU) Major Kyaw Htoo who came to their house.”
The resident added that the two men explained how they’d spoken to the KNU officer about trading wood and nothing more, though the SPDC nonetheless tortured and detained them until 1 a.m.”
A witness from the area told HURFOM, “the KNU Major Kyaw Htoo just came and talked about wood trading in U Myo’s house—everybody in Three Pagodas, who works with furniture shops and wood trading had been communicating with the KNU, because they get the wood from the KNU territory areas. If they didn’t have communication with the KNU, they couldn’t run their business easily in the area.”

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that Myanmar’s junta chief rejected his initial request to meet jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi,

a rocky start to what he has called “a very tough mission” to win her freedom.
Ban emerged from a two-hour meeting with Myanmar’s reclusive Senior Gen. Than Shwe, saying he still hoped to meet the 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate before he leaves the country on Saturday.
“I told him that I wanted to meet her, but he told me that she is (on) trial,” Ban told reporters afterward. “But I told him that this is my proposal, and this is important, and I’m waiting for their reply.”
The two met in an ornate reception hall with a colonnaded walkway and an indoor waterfall in Naypyitaw, the junta’s remote administrative capital.
If Ban is allowed to meet with Suu Kyi, he will be the first U.N. secretary-general to do so since her first period of detention started in 1989.
Suu Kyi has been in detention for nearly 14 of the past 20 years, mostly under house arrest.
In May, she was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American man swam secretly to her lakeside home in May and stayed for two days. She has pleaded not guilty and faces five years in prison if convicted.
The trial has sparked outrage from world leaders, Hollywood celebrities, other Nobel laureates and human rights groups who say the military-controlled government is using the bizarre incident as an excuse to keep Suu Kyi behind bars through elections scheduled for 2010.
The elections are part of the junta’s “roadmap to democracy,” which critics say is a sham designed to cement the military’s four-decade grip on power.
Ban said he also urged Than Shwe to “accelerate the process of democratization” and reiterated calls for the junta to free its estimated 2,100 political prisoners ahead of the elections.