New York, Sep 27 (DPA) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has decided to send an envoy to Myanmar and the Security Council convened a meeting to discuss clashes between military forces and pro-democracy protesters that resulted in several deaths and fears of more violence.
Ban Wednesday asked Ibrahim Gambari to travel to Myanmar and called on the “senior leadership of the country to cooperate fully with the mission in order to take advantage of the willingness of the UN to assist in the process of national reconciliation through dialogue.”
The UN Security Council also urgently convened a meeting Wednesday as the situation in Myanmar worsened with clashes and curfew. Diplomats refrained from saying what they would do during the Security Council meeting. High-ranking government officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) also planned to meet on Myanmar.
Some diplomats had cautioned that China and Russia have opposed Security Council measures against Myanmar in the past and would maintain the stance in this case.
Troops used force earlier Wednesday to keep tens of thousands of marching monks and other protestors out of Yangon’s holiest shrines in a confrontation that claimed at least five lives.
At least 30 monks and 50 civilians were taken away in military vehicles to an unknown destination.
In deciding to send an envoy, Ban said he had noted the use of force, arrests and beatings of demonstrators, and called on the country’s military authorities to “exercise utmost restraint toward the peaceful demonstrations taking place, as such action can only undermine the prospects for peace, prosperity and stability in Myanmar.”
Ban had called for restraint from the military government on two previous occasions.
Foreign ministers of the groups of industrialized countries, or G-8, met at UN headquarters on the fringes of the UN General Assembly to also discuss Myanmar.
“We call on the government and authorities in Burma to enter into a dialogue with the religious groups and democratic forces in the country, to reach a peaceful solution without violence,” the G-8 said according to Germany, which holds the group’s rotating presidency.
The group, which also includes the US, Russia, Canada, Japan, Britain, Italy and France, also called for an immediate end to the ongoing violence of the past week.
The group also warned the military leadership that they would be held “personally responsible” for their actions, after a meeting of foreign ministers at the German embassy in New York.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said from her headquarters in Geneva that the military government should refrain from using force against peaceful demonstrators.
“The use of excessive force and all forms of arbitrary detention, of peaceful protesters are strictly prohibited under international law,” she said.
Arbour called for respect of fundamental human rights under all circumstances.