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Burma: UN envoy meets top general as regime blames foreigners for violence
By MARCUS OSCARSSONLast updated at 12:41 04 December 2007UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has met Myanmar junta supremo Than Shwe today, to tryto persuade him to end a crackdown on the biggest democracy protests in 20 years.The two met in the junta's remote new capital, Naypyitaw, two foreign diplomats said.Also present were Than Shwe's no. 2, General Maung Aye, no. 3, General Thura Shwe Mann,and acting Prime Minister Thein Sein, who's fourth in the hierarchy.The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.Slaughter: Executed monks have beendumped in the jungleWhile Gambari was trying to broker  peace, the junta's security forceslightened their presence in Yangon, thecountry's main city, which remainedquiet after troops and police brutallyquelled mass protests last week.The 9 pm -to-5 am curfew was scaled back to 10 pm to 4 am. Kept off thestreets, many residents launched a newform of protest Monday evening byswitching off their lights and turning off television sets from 8 pm - 8.15 pmduring the nightly governmentnewscast.Dissident groups say up to 200 protesters were killed and 6,000detained in the crackdown, compared tothe regime's report of 10 deaths."Normalcy has now returned inMyanmar," Foreign Minister Nyan Wintold the UN General Assembly in NewYork, adding that security forces actedwith restraint for a month but had to"take action to restore the situation." Nyan Win made no reference to the deaths. Instead, he blamed foreigners for the violence."Recent events make clear that there are elements within and outside the country who wish toderail the ongoing process (toward democracy) so that they can take advantage of the chaosthat would follow," Nyan Win said.Foreign Minister of Burma Nyan Win tells the UN in New York that foreigners are the causeof his ruling junta's brutal crackdown on protestors
 
"They have become more and more emboldenedand have stepped up their campaign to confrontthe government," he said."The destiny of each and every country can only be determined by its government and people," hesaid. "It cannot be imposed from outside." Nyan Win's comments indicated that the juntawould not give up its hardline position and iswilling to thumb its nose at international demandsto restore democracy and free pro-democracyleader Aung San Suu Kyi.In Rangoon, despite agreeing to see Gambari, thegenerals continued posting troops and police across the city and dispatching pro-junta gangsto raid homes in search of monks and dissidents on the run."They are going from apartmentto apartment, shaking thingsinside, threatening the people.You have a climate of terror allover the city," a Bangkok-basedMyanmar expert said.US charge d'affaires ShariVillarosa said arrests continuedunabated.Tensions: People gather outside atemple after a police raid todayAPF News' president ToruYamaji pays his respects withflowers in Rangoon to journalist Kenji Nagaiwho was killed covering the pro-democracy protests"We have heard that arrests are continuing atnight, like at two o'clock in the morning. We'veheard it's the military.
"I don't who is doing it, but people are goingaround in the middle of the night and taking people away," she said.
"People are terrified. This government keeps power through fear and intimidation and theyare trying to intimidate people to stay off thestreets."Gambari flew to the former Burma's new junglecapital to convey international outrage at last week's crushing of monk-led protests againstdecades of military rule and deepening poverty.After three days in the country, during which he met three minister-generals and oppositionleader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest, Gambari was told he would beable to meet Senior General Than Shwe.
 
The UN Security Council, which endorsed the former Nigerian foreign minister's emergencyvisit, is hoping the mission will kickstart some sort of dialogue between the junta - the latestface of 45 years of military rule - and Suu Kyi.After Than Shwe, Gambari was expected to have a second meeting with the 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, kindling hopes of some sort of "shuttle diplomacy".But as attempts at talks continue, it was revealed that thousands of monks detained inBurma's biggest city will be sent to prisons in the far north.About 4,000 monks have been rounded up in the past week as the military government hastried to stamp out pro-democracy protests.
WARNING: DISTRESSING IMAGE
Checkpoint: Police outside the house of opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi today
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