VARIOUS: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemns violences in Myanmar

Record ID: 491928

  • Title: VARIOUS: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemns violences in Myanmar
  • Date: 29th September 2007
  • Summary: (BN13) LONDON, UK (FILE) (REUTERS) UNITED KINGDOM FLAG
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2007 13:00
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  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA7JFASUOUVM48EN9X308XYSRSZ
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  • Story Text: A government crackdown against protesters in Myanmar may have caused far more deaths than the handful being reported by the Myanmar authorities, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
    "I am afraid we believe the loss of life is far greater than is being reported," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday (September 28) after talking by telephone with U.S. President George W. Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
    There has been no word on the fate of the monks, who turned what began as small protests against shock fuel price rises last month into a mass uprising when they lent their moral weight to demonstrations against the ruling generals.
    The junta faced a torrent of international condemnation but usually ignores outside pressure and appeared to have cut off public access to the Internet, through which much of the news about their crackdown reached the rest of the world.
    But in one small concession, the junta agreed to admit U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari. Diplomatic sources in Yangon said he was expected to arrive from Singapore on Saturday.
    ""Mr. (Ibrahim) Gambari, the representer of the UN, should be able to meet Aung San Suu Kyi during his visit to Burma, and he should be able to meet those people that represent the democratic aspirations of the people of Burma, and who want to see reconciliation," added Gordon Brown.
    Also in Rome a vigil was held in front of the Embassy of Myanmar.
    Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi will ask the European Union to hold an urgent meeting on Myanmar to seek ways to "halt the violence" as the junta cracks down on protests against decades of military rule.
    Prodi said in a statement on Wednesday that he would talk later in the day to the prime minister of Portugal, which currently holds the EU presidency, to propose such a meeting.
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