Myanmar junta seeks reconciliation with monks

09 Oct 2007

YANGON (AFP) — Myanmar's military junta has donated thousands of dollars as well as food and medicines to monasteries in Yangon, state media reported Monday, in an apparent gesture of reconciliation.

Buddhist monks had last month declared a boycott on donations from soldiers and their families as they spearheaded mass protests which brought as many as 100,000 people onto the streets of the nation's main city.

The monks were beaten and arrested when the ruling generals reacted to the biggest threat to their rule in 20 years with a bloody crackdown that left at least 13 people dead and more than 2,100 locked up.

The official New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Lieutenant General Myint Swe of the defence ministry Sunday distributed about 8,000 dollars in cash and huge amounts of rice, cooking oil, toothpaste and medicine to 50 monasteries and a nunnery in northern Yangon.

The paper, a government mouthpiece, said the donations were made on behalf of military members and their families, and were accepted by the monks.

In Buddhism, refusing to take alms is regarded as a snub akin to effective excommunication, and acceptance of the gifts would indicate the soldiers have been brought back into the faith.

It came with the UN Security Council due Monday to weigh a draft statement condemning the military regime.

The non-binding text, drafted by the United States, Britain and France, was submitted after the world body heard a report from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on his recent mission to defuse the crisis.

The statement condemns "violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" and urges Myanmar's rulers to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

However, diplomats in New York said it was likely to be toned down at the request of China, Russia and possibly Indonesia.

The donations were latest in a series of gestures by the military aimed at easing domestic and international pressure on the regime.

During the weekend the military trumpeted its release of more than half of 2,171 people arrested in the crackdown and noted that nearly 400 of 533 monks detained had been "sent back to their respective monasteries."

State media reported that pornography and weapons, including one pistol and 13 slingshots, had been confiscated during raids on the monasteries.

Junta chief Senior General Than Shwe has indicated he is prepared to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, although the offer came with heavy conditions including that she end support for sanctions.

Gambari was allowed to see the democracy leader, who has spent most of the last 18 years under house arrest, on his mission here a week ago.

The United States has led calls for her release, and warned Friday that it could push for UN sanctions, including an arms embargo, if the ruling generals pursue the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Any sanctions resolution is likely to face resistance and possibly a veto from China and Russia, who deem the turmoil in the southeast Asian country an internal matter and not a threat to wider peace and security.

The protests in Myanmar began in mid-August after a huge overnight hike in fuel prices left many people in the impoverished nation unable even to afford their bus fare to work.

But it was only when the monks, who are revered in Myanmar, took the lead that the rallies escalated into a genuine threat to more than four decades of military rule here.

Meanwhile Japan, one of the country's largest donors, held a funeral for a freelance journalist shot dead by troops while covering the demonstrations on September 27.

Myanmar insists the killing was an accident, but Japan is sceptical of the explanation and has threatened to cut back on its aid pending the result of an investigation by a special Japanese task force.