Also- Rain is wet, grass is green, sky is blue. No big surprise-
Myanmar’s military junta rejected a U.N. statement calling for negotiations with the opposition, insisting Friday that it would follow its own plan to bring democracy to the country.
The impoverished country’s main opposition party, however, urged the ruling generals to comply with U.N. demands for negotiations with pro-democracy forces and ethnic minorities, and the release of political prisoners.
Top opposition party the National League for Democracy — led by the detained activist Aung San Suu Kyi — endorsed the Security Council statement.
“Since Myanmar is a member country of the United Nations and as the government has declared it would work with the U.N., we earnestly underscore the need to urgently implement the demands made by the Security Council,” the NLD said.
Oh but that bastard? He died at last, good-
The fourth-ranking member of the junta, Prime Minister Gen. Soe Win, 59, died Friday in a military hospital after a long illness, relatives and state media said. Soe Win reputedly oversaw a 2003 attack on Suu Kyi from which she escaped unscathed.
Other groups agree with the UN-
The New Mon State Party (NMSP), which has a cease fire arrangement with the Burmese military junta, has welcomed the United Nation’s call for genuine dialogue with democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, all concerned parties and ethnic groups and the release of all political prisoners and detainees.
“We strongly support the UN statement and that is the party’s objective. That’s the most suitable response for the current crisis in Burma (Myanmar),” said NMSP spokesperson Nai Ong Mange.
Nai Ong Mange said many UN envoys visited Burma many times in the past but there was no effort on the part of the junta for a change to democracy.
Now importantly the reason the online flow of first hand info has slowed and remains so and now, not much hope in sight-
The Ministry of Defence and Communications will take over the Myanmar Post and Telecommunication near future, according to sources. Tech savvy people splashed photographs of protests by monks and of the brutal crackdown around the world. Digital pictures and videos were uploaded in blogs embarrassing the Burmese military junta no end. This led the regime’s plan to substitute army men in civilian posts at the MPT, sources said.
While the peaceful demonstrators were being beaten up and shot on streets of the biggest city Rangoon, on September 28, the junta shut down the internet to check the information flow.
However, believing that the mass protests are over and have been effectively controlled since Oct 4, the junta restored internet connection but it continues to be unstable. The junta is scanning the internet and is on the lookout for anyone trying to send out information to the outside world.
Some cafes are warning users against surfing political sites because the MPT and Myanmar Teleport (formerly known as Bagan) are monitoring the net, an internet user said. The news of protests had attracted employees of private business houses and some companies restricted the time of use of the internet for their work, according to an IT programmer .