Soldiers hunt dissidents in Myanmar
Thursday, 4 October 2007
YANGON, Oct 3 (AP): Soldiers announced that they were hunting pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar's largest city Wednesday and the top US diplomat in the country said military police were pulling people out of their homes during the night.
Military vehicles patrolled the streets before dawn with loudspeakers blaring that: "We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!"
Shari Villarosa, the acting US ambassador in Myanmar, said in a telephone interview that people in Yangon were terrified.
"From what we understand, military police ... are traveling around the city in the middle of the night, going into homes and picking up people," she said.
The UN's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, declined to comment on his four-day mission to Myanmar, where the military junta last month crushed mass pro-democracy demonstrations led by the nation's revered Buddhist monks.
Villarosa said embassy staff had gone to some monasteries in recent days and found them completely empty. Others were barricaded by the military and declared off-limits to outsiders.
The Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident radio station based in Norway, said authorities have released 90 of 400 monks detained in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, during a midnight raid on monasteries on Sept. 25.
A semblance of normality returned to Yangon after daybreak, with some shops opening and light traffic on roads.
Some people remained hopeful that democracy would come.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the current junta came to power after snuffing out the 1988 pro-democracy movement. The generals called elections in 1990 but refused to give up power when Suu Kyi's party won.
Military vehicles patrolled the streets before dawn with loudspeakers blaring that: "We have photographs. We are going to make arrests!"
Shari Villarosa, the acting US ambassador in Myanmar, said in a telephone interview that people in Yangon were terrified.
"From what we understand, military police ... are traveling around the city in the middle of the night, going into homes and picking up people," she said.
The UN's special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, declined to comment on his four-day mission to Myanmar, where the military junta last month crushed mass pro-democracy demonstrations led by the nation's revered Buddhist monks.
Villarosa said embassy staff had gone to some monasteries in recent days and found them completely empty. Others were barricaded by the military and declared off-limits to outsiders.
The Democratic Voice of Burma, a dissident radio station based in Norway, said authorities have released 90 of 400 monks detained in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, during a midnight raid on monasteries on Sept. 25.
A semblance of normality returned to Yangon after daybreak, with some shops opening and light traffic on roads.
Some people remained hopeful that democracy would come.
The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962, and the current junta came to power after snuffing out the 1988 pro-democracy movement. The generals called elections in 1990 but refused to give up power when Suu Kyi's party won.