The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma visited infamous Insein Prison and the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery on Monday, the scene of a bloody crackdown by security forces during the pro-democracy demonstrations.
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U.N. human rights envoy to Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visited Yangon’s notorious Insein prison and other detention centers on Monday where protesters were held after soldiers crushed anti-junta marches in September.
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In a sign of progress, Burma’s democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, will be released soon, a party spokesperson said on Saturday.
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Although the September protests in Rangoon were led by Buddhist monks, Burmese Muslims were among the first to offer water to the monks as a means of showing support for the peaceful demonstrations.
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Overtly concerned with the Burmese military junta’s plans to dam the Irrawaddy River, defiant university students in Burma’s northern state of Kachin spray-painted the words “No Dam, Than Shwe Killer” on walls in crowded places in Myitkyina town, on Saturday, sources said.
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Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, welcomes the Singaporean Prime Minister’s acknowledgement of Suu Kyi and her political role in talks with the Burmese junta, a spokesperson of the NLD said on Monday. (more…)

Around 200 government supporters and township police officers have been involved in a video shoot in Prome in which they re-enact the suppression of the recent monk-led protests.
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The monasteries of Myanmar used to teem with saffron-robed Buddhist monks, revered as spiritual guides and moral authorities in a country in the grip of a repressive military regime.
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A portrait of US President George W. Bush was set on fire today in a Burmese junta-organized mass rally in Hnam Kham town of northern Shan state in protest against the US’s rhetorical stand on the military generals.
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U Seindiya, a senior monk from Aung Kaung monastery whose public service has previously been recognised by the government, has fled to the Thai-Burma border to escape arrest.
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Oil was $72 a barrel in August when a budget crunch forced Myanmar’s ruling generals to slash fuel subsidies, sparking protests that snowballed into the biggest anti-junta uprising in two decades.
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Oil was $72 a barrel in August when a budget crunch forced Myanmar’s ruling generals to slash fuel subsidies, sparking protests that snowballed into the biggest anti-junta uprising in two decades.
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With Burma’s state-controlled banking system crippled by stifling regulations, Burmese business people – and others with access to hard currency – have for yearslooked to Singaporean banks to hold their assets.
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The despotic regime in Myanmar has again proved itself to be among the most odious governments on Earth. What can be done? Attempts at “smarter” sanctions and penalties targeting leading junta members and their families are probably worth a try. But without an international consensus, they are likely to fail.
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Pressing for “immediate” and “inclusive” political reforms in Myanmar [Burma], India Monday [12 November] sought release of important political prisoners and probe into alleged excesses resorted to by the military junta.
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Led by Portugal on behalf of the European Union, more than 40 countries have tabled a resolution at a key UN committee expressing concern about the human rights situation in Burma and calling for the Burmese junta to ensure full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for its citizens. (more…)

The world community heard Burma’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s thoughts for the first time since 2003 when UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari announced her latest policy statement in Singapore on November 9, a day after he concluded his latest mission to Burma.
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Tentative talks in Myanmar between pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the country’s military rulers have raised hopes in some quarters of a possible political breakthrough. At the same time diplomats and others believe the only tentative move towards dialogue is the latest of a long string of diversionary tactics by the junta to deflect international criticism and maintain its iron-clad grip on power.
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Last Thursday, U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari looked sure to be slinking out of Burma in humiliating failure. The secretive general who runs that Southeast Asian nation had kept Gambari cooling his heels for six days, finally refusing to talk to him. Any semblance of a U.N.-sponsored diplomatic process seemed about to sputter to an undignified close.
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