UN envoy should extract 'no shooting' pledge from junta: Razali
Published: Oct 1, 2007 3:50 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 10:21 AM
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari must get an assurance from the Burmese junta that they will stop shooting pro-democracy protestors, his predecessor said yesterday.
United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari must get an assurance from the Burmese junta that they will stop shooting pro-democracy protestors, his predecessor said yesterday.
"There must be a result from this visit," veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, who was former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's emissary to Burma, told AFP as Gambari was in Rangoon in a bid to end the deadly repression against protestors.
"(Gambari) must get a promise from the military that they will not shoot the people who express their views (on the streets). We cannot let the people down," he said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon sent Gambari to Burma on Saturday to try to broker talks between the ruling military junta and its pro-democracy opponents.
Gambari faces a tough assignment as a two-day crackdown in Burma on the biggest wave of public dissent in 20 years left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more jailed. The violence sparked international outrage.
Ban has now called on Burmese authorities "to engage in a constructive dialogue with his special adviser and to commit to a path of peaceful and inclusive national reconciliation."
Razali, who resigned the post at the end of 2005 after being denied entry in Burma for 22 months, said that the Burmese people should be allowed to march and protest against the junta.
"The people should be allowed to march on the streets and protest. The economic policies of the junta are wrong. It has not benefited the people," he said.
The United States has urged Burmese rulers to let Gambari "meet with anyone he wants to meet, the military leaders, the religious leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi," according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Constructive engagement has failed
Razali said the junta's neighbours - members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, India - and the UN must convince the regime that the people have a right to demand reforms.
"The countries in the region, China, India and ASEAN along with the UN must let Myanmar know that the people have a right to express their views."
"The people should be allowed to ask for changes. You cannot be shot for asking for changes," he added.
Razali also said Asean's constructive engagement approach to Burma was not working.
"Many people knew that the constructive engagement was not constructive because there was very little engagement. It is an illusion they placed before their eyes," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Star newspaper.
Foreign ministers of the 10-member Asean bloc, which includes Burma, have strongly expressed their "revulsion" to the junta after the bloodshed.
Last year Gambari visited Burma twice, including in November when he met democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, the 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate who has been under house arrest for most of the past 18 years.
"There must be a result from this visit," veteran Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail, who was former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's emissary to Burma, told AFP as Gambari was in Rangoon in a bid to end the deadly repression against protestors. "(Gambari) must get a promise from the military that they will not shoot the people who express their views (on the streets). We cannot let the people down," he said.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon sent Gambari to Burma on Saturday to try to broker talks between the ruling military junta and its pro-democracy opponents.
Gambari faces a tough assignment as a two-day crackdown in Burma on the biggest wave of public dissent in 20 years left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more jailed. The violence sparked international outrage. Ban has now called on Burmese authorities "to engage in a constructive dialogue with his special adviser and to commit to a path of peaceful and inclusive national reconciliation."
Razali, who resigned the post at the end of 2005 after being denied entry in Burma for 22 months, said that the Burmese people should be allowed to march and protest against the junta.
"The people should be allowed to march on the streets and protest. The economic policies of the junta are wrong. It has not benefited the people," he said.
The United States has urged Burmese rulers to let Gambari "meet with anyone he wants to meet, the military leaders, the religious leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi," according to White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Constructive engagement has failed
Razali said the junta's neighbours - members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, India - and the UN must convince the regime that the people have a right to demand reforms.
"The countries in the region, China, India and ASEAN along with the UN must let Myanmar know that the people have a right to express their views."
"The people should be allowed to ask for changes. You cannot be shot for asking for changes," he added.
Razali also said Asean's constructive engagement approach to Burma was not working.
"Many people knew that the constructive engagement was not constructive because there was very little engagement. It is an illusion they placed before their eyes," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Star newspaper.
Foreign ministers of the 10-member Asean bloc, which includes Burma, have strongly expressed their "revulsion" to the junta after the bloodshed.
Last year Gambari visited Burma twice, including in November when he met democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, the 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate who has been under house arrest for most of the past 18 years.
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