One year after Myanmar protests, Suu Kyi faces junta alone
MYANMAR: One year after Myanmar’s brutal crackdown on protests led by
Buddhist monks, the world remains divided on how to handle the regime,
leaving democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi alone against the generals.
With the United Nations powerless to extract reforms from the
military regime, the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has used
sometimes desperate measures to make her own silent protests heard.
Aung San Suu Kyi, confined to house arrest for most of the last 19
years, refused to meet UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari last month and began
turning away her daily food deliveries until her thin body was so
weakened that her doctor had to place her on a drip. Just one year ago
on September 22, Aung San Suu Kyi stepped out of her house, tearfully
greeting Buddhist monks protesting against the military, which has ruled
this poor nation since 1962.
In the days that followed, more than 100,000 people took to the
streets until security forces launched a crackdown on September 26. The
UN estimates 31 people were killed, 74 were missing, and thousands
arrested.
Under global pressure, particularly from neighbouring China, the
regime made a few concessions, notably appointing a liaison officer in
October to coordinate contacts with Aung San Suu Kyi.
Just one month later, she made known her desire for higher-level
talks, which never materialised.
UN efforts to launch a dialogue with her National League for
Democracy (NLD) as well as ethnic leaders are now at a stalemate, while
Myanmar currently holds more political prisoners — over 2,000, according
to Amnesty International — than it did before the “Saffron Revolution.”
Bangkok, Sunday, AFP |