Myanmar under international pressure over protests

MYANMAR: Myanmar's military junta came under growing international pressure Friday as it faces the most sustained challenge to its rule in nearly two decades, led by Buddhist monks.

Britain and the United States said they were "appalled" at its handling of peaceful protests which have spread across the country.

More than 1,300 monks took to the streets Thursday in Myanmar's main city Yangon, drawing thousands of supporters in the largest anti-junta rally there since the protests first erupted.

The rallies, which began a month ago amid anger at a huge fuel price hike, have snowballed into the most prolonged show of dissent since a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 was crushed by the military.

The US and British ambassadors to the United Nations on Thursday expressed their concern about the growing turmoil, urging the junta to allow a visit by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari "as soon as possible."

"We certainly are appalled by the steps the (Myanmar) regime has taken to silence peaceful protest and to clamp down on dissent," British Ambassador John Sawyers said. US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the regime "poses a threat to regional peace and stability."

Sawyers said Gambari should be allowed to meet all the nation's political leaders, including democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past 17 years.

Yangon, Friday, AFP