Tag : U

By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. group on Myanmar vowed onSaturday to keep the world spotlight on the troubled country and topress the military rulers of the former Burma to comply with U.N.Security Council resolutions.
The "Friends of the Secretary General on Myanmar" said Myanmar'sjunta must comply with resolutions calling for the release ofpolitical prisoners and to pursue reconciliation to end a nearly20-year political stalemate.
The group urged Myanmar to address key issues, "especially therelease of political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize winnerAung San Suu Kyi, and the initiation of an all-inclusive dialoguebetween the government and the opposition," U.N. Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon's spokesman said in a statement.
The 14-nation group, joined by top representatives of theAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the EuropeanUnion, met a day after the first anniversary of a crackdown onprotests led by Buddhist monks against the military that has ruledthe country since 1962.
At least 31 people were killed and some 3,000 were arrested in thecrackdown. Human rights groups say as many as 700 people remainbehind bars, although the junta says all but a few dozen have beenreleased.
"The people of Burma have not been forgotten by the internationalcommunity," British Foreign Minister David Miliband told reportersafter the meeting.
"It's vital that, first, we don't fall for the electoral andconstitutional facade that has been erected over the last year,and, secondly, the U.N. remains determined in its support for theU.N. Security Resolutions that have been passed," he said.
His criticism was aimed at a May referendum on Myanmar'sarmy-drafted constitution -- part of a seven-step "roadmap todemocracy" that is meant to culminate in multi-party elections in2010 but has been rejected by Western countries and Myanmar'sdemocracy movement as a sham. Continued...