Rebuke for Burma from world powers

September 29, 2008

NEW YORK: A year after Burma's military leaders cracked down violently on pro-democracy demonstrators, world powers have called on the country's junta to make tangible progress on political reforms.

The first ministerial meeting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and other, mostly Asian, nations urged the junta to co-operate with a UN special envoy to resolve the nation's crisis.

The call came before a possible visit by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to Burma by the end of the year.

A UN envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, has made four visits to the country since the bloody uprising a year ago, but failed to restart a dialogue between the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta.

The talks on Saturday underlined "the responsibility of the Myanmar [Burma] Government to demonstrate its stated commitment to co-operation with the good offices [of the UN Secretary General] through further tangible results," Mr Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said.

The meeting of Mr Ban's so-called "group of friends on Myanmar" wanted the generals to "respond more positively" to demands for the release of political prisoners and a dialogue with the opposition, Ms Montas said.

Mr Ban chaired the informal talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly amid little sign the military junta would embrace political reforms.

The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, expressed dismay that the junta continued to defy international demands for the release of political prisoners and an end to repression.

"The most important message today is that the people of Burma have not been forgotten by the international community and they remain high on the thoughts of many governments," Mr Miliband said.

Agence France-Presse