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Top US Diplomat Wants International Pressure on Burma Junta
By GRANT PECK/AP WRITER/BANGKOK
Saturday, February 2, 2008.
Fresh international pressure is necessary to push Burma's military rulers toward reform because the momentum for change after last year's demonstrations has been lost, the top US diplomat in the country said Friday.
The appeal by Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in Rangoon, followed signs that the ruling junta was again stepping up repression of dissidents.
It also came after Burma's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday she was dissatisfied with the progress of her reconciliation talks with the junta, and cautioned the public to "hope for the best and prepare for the worst."
Burma's crisis attracted world attention when Buddhist monks last September began leading anti-government protests, the biggest in two decades. At least 30 people are believed to have been killed when the government suppressed the demonstrations, and thousands detained, though most have since been released.
Under pressure from UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, the junta appointed a "Minister for Relations" to talk with Suu Kyi, but their few meetings have borne no results, and junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe has made no further moves toward reconciliation.
"I think everybody hoped that there was genuine will on the part of Than Shwe and his senior generals to begin a real dialogue, and what is increasingly evident is that they have no intention whatsoever in engaging in a genuine dialogue," Villarosa said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Bangkok.
Earlier this week, lawyers working with the pro-democracy movement said that about two dozen members of the 88 Generation Students group, whose small protests against a fuel price hike mushroomed into last September's massive demonstrations, would face trial. They are charged with making illegal statements and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Last week, human rights group Amnesty International said the ruling military had continued to arrest political activists, despite its promise to the United Nations that it would halt arrests following September's demonstrations.
Amnesty International said 1,850 political prisoners were behind bars, including 96 imprisoned since early November when the government told the world body it had stopped all arrests.
Villarosa said it was crucial for Burma's fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, along with its giant neighbors China and India, to push the junta to open up to dialogue and reconciliation with its opponents. The UN also needs to be involved, she said.

Bush Administration Expected to Request Boost in Burma Funding
By FOSTER KLUG/AP WRITER/WASHINGTON
Saturday, February 2, 2008.
President George W Bush on Monday is expected to propose a boost in funding for Burma in his annual budget request.
Bush will likely request nearly $16 million be targeted toward the military-led Southeast Asian country, a large jump from the nearly $5 million requested last year, according to a congressional aide familiar with the proposal.
The proposal indicates the administration wants to step up funding meant to spark change in the country after its military crushed pro-democracy protests led by students and Buddhist priests last year.
Monday's request by the Bush administration will be the start of a long budget process. The Senate and the House of Representatives must make their own recommendations on funding; negotiators from each side would then hammer out a compromise bill before sending it to the president to sign into law.
As Bush, a Republican, enters his last year in office, he faces strong opposition from the Democratic party that controls Congress. That means there is no guarantee that the budget will be funded at the levels he has requested.
The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the request had yet to be formally released, said about $186 million would be requested for Indonesia, of which nearly $16 million would be for military aid. That's down about $4 million from the previous year's enacted level, the aide said. Military aid levels are roughly the same.
The Bush administration sees Indonesia as crucial to fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia. Last year's military aid was linked to the US Secretary of State reporting to Congress that Indonesia had accounted for past human rights violations by its military.
The United States eliminated military ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, in 1999 to protest alleged rights abuses by Indonesian troops in breakaway East Timor. The ban was lifted in 2005 by the Bush administration.