VARIOUS: World leaders condemn Myanmar violence

The international community calls for restraint in Myanmar amid reports that at least two monks and a civilian have been killed in anti-junta protests. Philippine activists protested outside the Myanmar embassy in Manila, in support of the anti-junta demonstrations in Yangon, as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for a U.N. Security Council meeting on Myanmar on Wednesday (September 26), vowing there would be "no impunity" for human rights violators in the country. "I hope the Security Council will meet immediately, meet today, and discuss this issue and look at what can be done. The first thing that should be done is the U.N. envoy should be sent to Burma (Myanmar)," Brown told reporters at a conference of Britain's ruling Labour Party. "There will be no impunity in future for those who trample the human rights of the people of Burma," Brown added. Brown spoke as monastery sources said at least two monks and a civilian had been killed and hospital sources said at least five people wounded in Myanmar's main city on Wednesday when security forces moved in to disperse the biggest anti-junta demonstrations in 20 years. A spokesman for the prime minister later said Brown would be phoning world leaders about the situation. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is due to fly to New York for U.N. meetings later on Wednesday, urged Myanmar authorities to exercise restraint in responding to the protests and said they would be held accountable for their conduct. "It's very important that we continue to maintain this unanimous international call for restraint and also an international message that there will be accountability with respect to many decisions that are taken. But restraint must remain the order of the day," Miliband told reporters in Bournemouth, southern England. In Germany, members of a Burmese opposition group called on the European Union to expel Myanmar diplomats. "I must say, I'm surprised that these representations in the European Union and here in Germany are allowed to operate," said Htoo Min, spokesman for the 60-member 'Burma Bureau Cologne. "If you asked me what our demands were, the first step should be for the government representatives to be sent home and the embassies to be shut. Diplomatic relations should be cut and economic sanctions introduced. That would be effective. Economic sanctions would be appropriate," Htoo Min said. His organisation estimates that some 2,000 exiled people of Myanmar origin live in Germany. In Japan, Japan's Foreign Ministry urged Myanmar to respond calmly and "take seriously the wishes of the people as evidenced by the demonstrations. But Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary General Nobutaka Machumura questioned what he called the Western pressure on the military Junta. "As for our country, I don't think it's wise to blindly join up with Western countries and bang on (criticise) Myanmar. I don't think that is good diplomacy," Nobutaka said after describing his visit to Yangon a year ago as a country with peaceful people. The United States announced new sanctions on Myanmar on Tuesday (September 25) and urged others to follow suit.

ITN Source | September 27, 2007

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