In a show of solidarity with protesters, UN, Britain warn regime it will be held accountable for actions
UNITED NATIONS–Support poured in from around the world for protesters in Burma yesterday as the country's military rulers threatened to "take action" against Buddhist monks who have led the country's largest demonstration in nearly 20 years.
World leaders urged the Rangoon junta to show restraint and warned the regime would be held accountable for any violent crackdown on the march, which numbered 100,000 people yesterday in a major challenge to the military regime.
Among those praising the peaceful nature of the demonstrations but urging against retaliatory action was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Ban "commends the peaceful approach the demonstrators are using to press their interests and he calls upon the (Burmese) authorities to continue to exercise restraint," he said in a statement.
Washington said it was keeping a close eye on the protests and expressed hope that dialogue would emerge.
But the White House announced yesterday that U.S. President George W. Bush would unveil new punitive sanctions against members of the ruling junta during a speech today at the United Nations.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown offered his support to protesters in Burma.
"There is a golden thread of common humanity that across nations and faiths binds us together, and it can light the darkest corners of the world," Brown said.
"A message should go out to anyone facing persecution, anywhere from Burma and Zimbabwe: human rights are universal and no injustice can last forever."
The latest show of dissent follows weeks of protests sparked by a massive fuel price hike, leaving observers concerned about a potential repeat of the violence seen in a 1988 crackdown on protesters that left hundreds if not thousands dead.
In the first Burmese official reaction to the protests, state media reported the religion minister, Brig.-Gen. Thura Myint Maung, had met senior clergy yesterday to deliver a warning. "If the monks go against the rules and regulations in the authority of the Buddhist teachings, we will take action under the existing law," state television quoted the minister as saying.
In a message released in Paris, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama urged the military government not to react with violence.
"I extend my support and solidarity with the recent peaceful movement for democracy in Burma," he said in a message datelined Dharamsala, seat of the Tibetan government in exile in northern India.
French foreign ministry spokesperson Frédéric Desagneaux said the junta "will be held accountable before the international community for the security of the protesters" and urged authorities to "open the real process of reform and of national reconciliation that the country needs."
Germany expressed its "sympathy" with the demonstrations and demanded the release of protesters arrested during the marches.
German foreign ministry spokesperson Martin Jaeger also renewed calls for the liberation of pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.
In Oslo, Geir Lundestad, the head of the Nobel Institute, hailed the "spirit" of the opposition in Burma and said he hoped the swelling protests would culminate in Suu Kyi's house arrest being lifted.
Agence France-Presse
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