Snub for Burmese envoyOctober 02, 2007
AUSTRALIA has taken a lead in the diplomatic war on Burma's junta, refusing to accept a military commander as the rogue state's new ambassador to Canberra.
In concert with the UN, Australia is applying diplomatic pressure on the Burmese leadership in an effort to persuade it to ease restrictions on its 56million citizens.
Australia has rejected Rangoon's request to appoint Brigadier-General Thura U Thet Oo Maung as the new ambassador because of the regime's appalling behaviour.
At the time of the nomination earlier this year, General Maung was serving in the Burmese Army Command and had served in the military controlling the states of Shan and Karen, which are engaged in violent battles for independence from the repressive regime.
The Australian Government refused the Burmese nomination when it was made several months ago but it is now making a point of the rejection by publicly disclosing the rare diplomatic snub.
Normally, a government's recommendation for an ambassadorial appointment is accepted. In the past, Australia has accepted Indonesia's appointment of a former commander of an elite military corps accused of atrocities in East Timor.
The Australian Government's outright rejection of the Burmese nomination puts the two at loggerheads.
The rebuke is one of the few avenues available to the Australian Government to express its disapproval of the repressive military regime, which in the past week has cracked down on pro-democracy protesters.
Australia has virtually no economic relationship with the country. Last year, more than half of Australia's exports to Burma consisted of $20million worth of wheat shipped to the country by disgraced exporter AWB.
Australia also last year provided some counter-terrorist training to officials from the military junta as part of broader programs provided to ASEAN member nations.
But Australia has rejected Burma's requests for an increased level of co-operation as part of its tougher stance against the junta.
Last week, the Howard Government carpeted Burma's senior representative in Canberra over the military crackdown in Rangoon.
Last night, diplomatic sources said armed thugs responsible for some of the worst violence targeting unarmed Burmese anti-government protesters and Buddhist monks belonged to a clandestine organisation overseen by a two-star army general.
Senior diplomatic sources told The Australian at least 30 people have been killed during the crackdown, with more than 300 monks and 1500 civilian protesters, mostly students, rounded up by the military regime.
"We estimate many thousands have been injured, many very seriously, especially among the monks who took very heavy beatings last Wednesday and Thursday," one source told The Australian. "One monk is known to have been killed, shot dead. It's taken massive courage to go out there."
Diplomats estimate more than 2000 troops have been moved into the main city of Rangoon to deal with the unrest but thousands more are on standby.
With a standing well-equipped army of more than 400,000, there is plenty of spare capacity to deal with threats of resurgent unrest.
It is understood the military has ordered thousands of monks to stay in their monasteries in a virtual lock-down. Small groups of monks were allowed into the streets to seek alms as a token gesture during the visit this week of UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari.
Troops have been ordered not to fire shots or teargas during Mr Gambari's visit and instead rely on baton charges, "but only for the time being".
The savagery of an attack by the army and paid goons on Yuzana monastery in north Rangoon was so vicious, 3000 local residents living close by came out to protest the next day. Details are emerging of a sinister organisation called Swann Arrshim, meaning strong force, whose purpose is to intimidate and beat anybody who steps out of line.
Funded by a government body known as the Union of Solidarity Development Association, the gang is deployed across the country and comes under the control of Agriculture Minister Major General Htay-Oo.
Contrary to some reports, diplomats in Rangoon report no sign of division among the military regime led by Senior General Than Shwe. "There is no doubt the No1 here has worked in a cunning way to avoid what happened to his predecessors and not get knocked off by the bloke below him," one senior diplomat said. "Talk of dissent and friction at the top is not borne out by what we see, it's not consistent. There is nothing here suggesting to us any of the leadership group sees any different vision for the role of the military."
Bloggers, armed with digital cameras and software to dodge firewalls, have shown the uprising to the world, and the junta's bloodthirsty response. Now they have been silenced and forced underground.
The junta has always kept a chokehold on internet users, licensing computers and issuing accounts through state-monitored internet service providers. Now, having failed to stop the cyber-dissidents broadcasting to the world, the authorities have switched off the internet.
First they arrested individuals blogging about the protests and confiscated their computers. Then they blocked individual Burmese blogs, and last Wednesday they blocked all of them. But the overseas sites were beyond its reach, so on Friday it switched off the internet altogether.
Emails can now be sent only within Burma, and only official websites can be viewed. The sole solution now would be to dial up ISPs overseas but the cost of international calls is prohibitive.
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