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Myanmar raids Buddhist monasteries

The Irrawaddy / AFP/Getty Images

A monk runs as tear gas fills the air during the police crack down on protesting Buddhist monks and their supporters in downtown Yangon.

Authorities arrest as many as 200 monks. The crackdown on street protests leaves as many as five people dead.

By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 27, 2007

NEW DELHI -- Security forces in Myanmar raided two monasteries early today after a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in which at least one person was killed, according to news and witness accounts trickling out of the closed-off country.

Seeking to prevent a 10th consecutive day of demonstrations against their autocratic rule, the military leaders of Myanmar, also known as Burma, ordered the raid on the two prominent monasteries in the main city of Yangon. As many as 200 Buddhist monks were reportedly arrested.

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On Wednesday, dozens of monks were said to have been beaten and dragged off by authorities after defying official warnings by rallying in the center of Yangon. Protests were also reported in Mandalay, Myanmar's second city.

The ruling military junta acknowledged that one man had been killed and three wounded during the standoff in Yangon, but witnesses and overseas dissident groups told news agencies that as many as five people had died of gunshot wounds or other causes amid demonstrations attended by thousands of people.

"They are marching down the streets, with the monks in the middle and ordinary people either side. They are shielding them, forming a human chain," one witness told Reuters news service, as the crowd behind roared its anger at government forces.

By nightfall Wednesday the streets of Yangon appeared to be deserted, under a 9 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew.

The resort to force by Myanmar's secretive government prompted statements of concern and condemnation from around the world.

"If these stories are accurate, the U.S. is very troubled that the regime would treat the Burmese people this way," White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon D. Johndroe said. "We call on the junta to proceed in a peaceful transition to democracy."

President Bush on Tuesday announced new sanctions against Myanmar and urged other world leaders to keep the pressure on.

"The whole world is now watching Burma, and its illegitimate and repressive regime should know that the whole world is going to hold it to account," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. "The age of impunity in neglecting and overriding human rights is over."

After an emergency session Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council called for Myanmar's military government to "exercise restraint" toward peaceful demonstrators. Discussion of sanctions or a formal statement of condemnation were blocked by Russia and China, which said the protests were an internal situation that did not constitute a threat to international peace and security.

China, Myanmar's largest trading partner and traditional ally, has been working behind the scenes to persuade the government to hold back, said China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya. "We have passed on word that they should not do anything to escalate the violence or make the situation more complicated," he said.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon held a half-hour meeting with Myanmar's foreign minister and Wednesday night dispatched the U.N.'s special envoy for the country. The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, had yet to receive a visa from the Myanmar government.

France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said that the European Union might join the United States and impose trade and financial restrictions on the country's rulers, but that sanctions were not enough.

"The generals care little about world attention and compassion. What we need now is political pressure from countries of the region," Kouchner said. "It's our only chance to decisively help the Burmese."

Myanmar has been in the grip of military rule for 45 years, a period that has seen a cosmopolitan Asian nation rich in natural resources plunge into poverty, isolation and oppression.

The current protests were sparked by a rise in fuel prices, which hit residents hard. Led by monks, who hold strong moral authority in Myanmar society, the crowds have swollen in number over the last eight days and presented the military junta with its largest and most sustained challenge since 1988, when the government crushed protesters by firing on them, killing an estimated 3,000 and arousing international outrage.

Television footage from Wednesday's protests showed both clerics and civilians marching through Yangon's streets. One young monk, waving a multicolored flag, could be seen shouting angrily and, it appeared, trying to rally the spirits of others.

Other protesters over the last few days have flown the peacock banner identified with pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest for most of the last 18 years.

The demonstrators' defiance of a ban on public assembly by a government known for treating dissent ruthlessly attests to the depth of anger coursing through society, analysts said.

"Things have been bad for a long time, but this petrol price hike has really pushed people over the edge. It's too deep an issue, because there are so many people living on marginal incomes, and it's such a poor country," said Adrian Vickers, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at the University of Sydney.

"The monkhood is large," he added, "and it's the only alternative organization to the government in that there are monasteries everywhere, and once you start that rolling, it'll be hard to stop."

Because of the exalted position the monks occupy, the government has had to tread carefully in response to the protests, aware that too harsh a crackdown could backfire.

Also, Vickers said that since many rank-and-file soldiers "come from very poor areas themselves, they would be quite sympathetic [to the protesters], especially on this issue of the rise in petrol prices. . . . The military have been loath to send the troops because they're not sure the military would obey their orders."

The restraint ended Wednesday, however, when security forces fired shots at demonstrators.

In its statement, the government said that one 30-year-old man had been killed by a ricocheting projectile and that two men and a woman were injured in the crush of people.

"The authorities concerned are handling the situation with care," a newsreader on state television was quoted as saying, adding that "destructive elements" were intent on breaking the law.

Thousands of demonstrators continued to rally at the Sule and Shwedagon pagodas, both of which are charged with spiritual and political significance.

Shwedagon Pagoda, with its gleaming golden spire in the center of Yangon, also known as Rangoon, has been the site of agitation against the state since the 1920s, when nationalists rallied there against British colonial rule.

The massacre that ended the 1988 demonstrations occurred around Sule Pagoda.

Those protests toppled then-military leader Gen. Ne Win, who had been in power since a 1962 coup, but he was promptly replaced by the current junta. The small coterie of generals at the heart of the junta is known to have its differences, but the divisions have yielded no letup in the intimidation, political suppression and cutoff from the rest of the world that the Burmese have endured for nearly half a century.

The generals live isolated from their people. Two years ago, in a strange move that some say was dictated by advice from an astrologer, senior junta leader Gen. Than Shwe moved the capital from Yangon to the town of Pyinmana 200 miles to the north, where roads were still unpaved and malaria is rampant.

henry.chu@latimes.com

Times staff writer Maggie Farley at the United Nations contributed to this report.

The despotism formerly known as Burma

By dispatching troops into the streets and imposing a curfew, Myanmar's cruel military junta has set the stage for a serious clash with pro-democracy activists. A firm and united international response along the lines outlined by President George W. Bush and the European Union at the United Nations Tuesday offers the best hope of encouraging peaceful change in a nation that has endured a 19-year reign of fear.

The question is whether the countries with the greatest influence on Myanmar's generals - China, Russia and India, which all sell weapons to the Myanmar army, as well the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that are Myanmar's immediate neighbors - have the good sense to condemn the repression and exert the pressures only they can wield with any hope of positive effect. It is essential that they step up to the plate, and fast, before blood is spilled.

Peaceful protests that began last month over dramatically increased fuel prices became seriously threatening to the junta when Myanmar's highly revered Buddhist monks joined in.

The growing crowds gave voice to pent-up grievances - and the junta responded in a predictable, entirely wrongheaded way. It sent troops into the streets. Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, was reported to have been moved to prison from house arrest.

The United States, which has long had sanctions on Myanmar, including an import ban, will now expand a visa ban against regime leaders and tighten financial penalties, Bush told the United Nations.
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Although not spelled out in further detail, the plan is believed to include going after the bank accounts of the Myanmar regime in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries, a tactic used by Washington with some effect against North Korea. The European Union also warned the junta that it faced tougher sanctions if it used force to crush the demonstrations.

These are good and necessary moves, but the greatest leverage to forestall disaster lies with China, Russia and India, who are making money off the junta and enabling it to stay in power. China, Myanmar's chief trade partner and the host of the 2008 Olympic Games, has beefed up arms sales to Yangon (formerly Rangoon), prompting Russia and India to do likewise as a way of offsetting Beijing's influence.

Moscow has discussed providing the junta with a nuclear research reactor, and India - the democracy on which the United States hopes to build a key security and economic relationship for the 21st century - had a senior minister in Myanmar for energy talks, even as the protests were under way.

There are some signs that China has urged restraint, but more must be done, including support for United Nations sanctions on Myanmar that Beijing and Moscow have so far blocked. The UN envoy dealing with Myanmar, Ibrahmim Gambari, must aggressively rally these major countries, as well as the Asean nations, to persuade the generals to stand down.

Letter of the day: At last the world is focusing on Myanmar

We are extremely happy to see the coverage of Myanmar (Burma) almost every day in your paper. It is about time for people in America to know what is going on in that country.

We lived in Burma for five years, from 2001 to 2006. People there live in an absolutely miserable condition. The military government oppresses the people in various ways, more subtly than obviously. The education system is a wreck. There are so many corruptions going on. The health providers are not too healthy. The government does not care for its people, to say the least.

It is about time for Burma to change. We pray that whatever change it may see will come peacefully. We still have quite a few friends, including dear monk friends, there. Living in the United States, it can be very difficult to think about the country so far away. But it is great to sit down and read the stories from the country where we lived and which our two children absolutely love.

SHOKO HANZAWA, STILLWATER

Photographer killed in Burma protests

September 27, 2007 - 9:08PM

A man lies injured after police and military officials fired upon and then charged at a crowd of thousands protesting in Yangon's city centre.
Photo: Reuters

Soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of anti-government demonstrators today as tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters in Burma's main city braved a crackdown that has drawn international appeals for restraint by the ruling military junta.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that after soldiers fired into a crowd near a bridge across the Pazundaung River on the east side of downtown Rangoon, five men were arrested and severely beaten by soldiers.

Thousands of protesters ran through the streets after the shots rang out. Bloody sandals were left lying the road.

Witnesses said at least one man had been shot, though the guns did not appear to be aimed directly at the massive crowd that gathered at Sule Pagoda.

Earlier a foreign photographer, believed to be a Japanese, was killed in protests in Rangoon, according to a hospital source.

Earlier, a witness had described a man who fell as shots were fired when police charged a crowd of 1000 protesters as "an older man, with a small camera who appeared to be Chinese or Japanese''.

The man was wearing shorts, the witness said, clothing rarely worn by local people in Myanmar.

Soldiers fired warning shots and tear gas as troops ordered thousands of protesters off the streets or risk being shot.

But there was no sign that Burma's biggest anti-government protests in 20 years will stop, nor any indication that the military junta will heed mounting international pressure to solve the crisis peacefully.

In the most dramatic scenes today, crowds of protesters in central Rangoon scattered after more then 200 soldiers and police marched through the streets with loudspeakers warning: "We will give 10 minutes. If you fail to leave, we will take extreme action."

"Everyone on the roads and in the streets, everyone must leave immediately."

Troops advanced up the street near Rangoon's Sule Pagoda, the end-point of more than a week of marches, their rifles at their sides. Police banged their rattan riot shields with batons.

"It's a terrifying noise," one witness said.

At least 100 people were arrested and thrown into military trucks after the warning was issued.

In chaotic scenes in the city centre, protesters also stopped a truck carrying bricks and used them to pelt a police post near the Traders Hotel.

Pro-junta civilian gangs were also deployed in the heart of the former capital, a city of five million people.

Witnesses told Reuters that tear gas and warning shots were fired in clashes between crowds and soldiers and riot police.

Anger was high after Burma's generals launched pre-dawn raids on several monasteries and the deaths yesterday of up to five monks in street clashes.

Troops dispatched military trucks early this morning to two monasteries in Rangoon and arrested up to 200 of the monks accused of coordinating the demonstrations, witnesses said. Other sources said they also raided monasteries in the northeast.

Monks have been central to the protests that grew out of sporadic marches against a huge rise in fuel prices last month, as the Buddhist priesthood, the country's highest moral authority, goes head-to-head with the might of the military.

In Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, about 50 monks confronted soldiers when they tried to block the Buddhist clergy from marching out of a monastery. About 100 onlookers shouted and jeered at the soldiers.

Also today, security forces arrested Myint Thein, the spokesman for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party, family members said.

An Asian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi remained at her Yangon residence where she has been detained for 12 years. Rumours had circulated that she had been taken away to Rangoon's notorious Insein prison.

Burma's state-run newspaper - the main mouthpiece of the junta's generals - today blamed "saboteurs inside and outside the nation" for causing the protests in Rangoon, and said the demonstrations were much smaller than the media are reporting.

"Saboteurs from inside and outside the nation and some foreign radio stations, who are jealous of national peace and development, have been making instigative acts through lies to cause internal instability and civil commotion," said The New Light of Myanmar.

In a sign the protest movement is strengthening, a band of ethnic rebels today threw its support behind the monks, and urged other similar groups to unite in opposing the regime.

The Karen National Union (KNU) is an armed group operating in the border area between Burma and Thailand and has battled Burma's government for 57 years in one of the world's longest-running insurgencies.

The KNU condemned the government's violent crackdown and urged 17 ethnic rebel groups that have signed ceasefires with the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as Burma's junta calls itself, to unite in opposing the government.

"This shooting and violence is like fuelling the movement of the Sanghas (clergy) and the people. If violence and shooting continue, the SPDC military clique must bear all the consequences," the KNU said in a statement.

"We urge all the ethnic ceasefire groups to join forces with the Sanghas and the people and unite in revolt against the SPDC military dictatorship clique."

As international pressure on the junta mounts, China publicly called for restraint in Burma for the first time today.

The comments follow a meeting between a top US envoy, who called on China to use its influence as a neighbour and trade partner of the isolated regime, and Chinese officials.

"As a neighbour, China is extremely concerned about the situation in Myanmar (Burma)," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

"We hope that all parties in the Myanmar issue will maintain restraint and appropriately handle the problems that have currently arisen so they do not become more complicated or expand, and don't affect Myanmar's stability and even less affect regional peace and stability."

The 15-member UN Security Council met in an emergency session in New York yesterday but failed to condemn the brutal repression in Rangoon.

Members merely expressed "strong support" for a plan to dispatch special envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Southeast Asia to await permission from the generals to enter Burma.

The council said Gambari's visit should go ahead "as soon as possible" and expressed "concern" about the government crackdown and called for "restraint".

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers will meet today on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session before holding separate talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in New York later in the day.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has adopted a soft stance on Burma in line with its general policy of non-interference in domestic affairs.

A Western diplomat said council members were hoping that the grouping would use its influence on Burma to persuade it to meet Gambari and free political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

US officials said Rice was also expected to ask Burma's ASEAN partners to crank up the pressure for an end to the violent crackdown.

In a joint statement issued in Brussels, the European Union and the United States said they were "deeply troubled" by reports that security forces had fired on demonstrators and arrested monks spearheading the protests.

The statement called on the Security Council to consider further steps "including sanctions".

Meanwhile, Australia said it would strengthen sanctions against Burma, including financial sanctions targeted at key figures in the junta.

It also plans to ask China, India and other South-East Asian governments to use their influence with Burma to counsel restraint and push for genuine reform.

Agencies

Myanmar crackdown: Global reaction

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "urgently dispatching" a special envoy to Myanmar, a statement from his office said Wednesday, following reports of violent clashes in that country between security forces and protesters.

Protests at the crackdown have taken place overseas, including one outside the Myanmar embassy, London.

"He calls on the senior leadership of the country to cooperate fully with this mission in order to take advantage of the willingness of the United Nations to assist in the process of a national reconciliation through dialogue," said a U.N. statement.

The envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, is scheduled to lead a briefing on the situation in Myanmar for the U.N. Security Council Wednesday afternoon.

"Noting reports of the use of force and of arrests and beatings, the secretary-general calls again on authorities to exercise utmost restraint toward the peaceful demonstrations taking place, as such action can only undermine the prospects for peace, prosperity and stability in Myanmar," Ban's statement said.

There's been no official word yet if the military junta ruling Myanmar will accept the offer from the U.N. secretary-general.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference Wednesday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown underscored that any trampling on human rights would not be accepted.

"The whole world is now watching Burma and this illegal and oppressive regime should know that the whole world will hold it to account," he said.

U.S. President George W. Bush, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly's annual session Tuesday before the crackdown, said his administration would impose stiffer sanctions against the country's military regime.

"The United States will tighten economic sanctions on the leaders of the regime and their financial backers. We will impose an expanded visa ban on those responsible for the most egregious violations of human rights, as well as their family members," he said.

"We will continue to support the efforts of humanitarian groups working to alleviate suffering in Burma (the country's traditional name) and urge the United Nations and all nations to use their diplomatic and economic leverage to help the Burmese people reclaim their freedom."

His comments were echoed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, also at the U.N. General Assembly. "I'm deeply concerned about the situation in Burma and Myanmar, and I would like to appeal for the peaceful, spontaneous demonstrations which are expressing just political and social concerns that they not be repressed by force in any way," Sarkozy said.

Soe Aung, National Council of the Union of Burma spokesman, called for the world to take action.

"There should be some action -- decisive action -- taken by the international community. At least there should be an urgent meeting of the Security Council level," he said.

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Aung also commented that the demonstrators do not seem content to back down.

"The monks are very determined that they are going to go ahead with the demonstrations unless their demands are met," he said.

Such demands include an apology from ministry authorities for the mistreatment of monks in central Myanmar, a reduction in the price of gasoline -- which originally sparked protests in late August -- and the release of protesters detained since demonstrations began, Aung said. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad.

"We are concerned about the situation, particularly now, because we see a worsening of the political situation and that is affecting the well-being of the people of Burma.

"We have urged Mr. Gambari and he plans to visit Burma as soon as possible," Khalilzad said, referring to Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. special envoy to Burma.

US urges 'nations with influence' to push Myanmar

	Photo 1 of 4
Monks and their supporters run as police crack down on demonstrations in Yangon. Security forces swept through Myanmar's main city Thursday, killing nine people including a Japanese journalist, and arresting hundreds more in a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

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WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States tightened sanctions Thursday on Myanmar's military rulers and urged countries like India and China to do more to help end a bloody crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

As the US Treasury Department froze the US assets of 14 top junta members, the White House urged the regime to let Myanmar-bound UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari meet with protest leaders and detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

US President George W. Bush said the world must press the junta to let the protests proceed and said "all nations that have influence" with Myanmar must throw their weight behind global efforts to end the crackdown.

"I call on all nations that have influence with the regime to join us in supporting the aspirations of the Burmese people and to tell the Burmese Junta to cease using force on its own people, who are peacefully expressing their desire for change," he said in a statement.

US officials did not deny that Bush's message was largely aimed at China and India, Myanmar's potent neighbors, but cautioned against reading it as a sign that Washington was worried they may hobble pressure efforts.

"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals," the US president said.

"Every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand up for people suffering under a brutal military regime like the one that has ruled Burma for too long," said Bush, who made a direct appeal to Myanmar security forces.

"I urge the Burmese soldiers and police not to use force on their fellow citizens. I call on those who embrace the values of human rights and freedom to support the legitimate demands of the Burmese people," he said.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino urged the junta to give Gambari "full access to all relevant parties while he is in Burma beginning tomorrow. This includes those jailed by the junta, religious leaders and Aung San Suu Kyi."

The Nobel Peace Prize winner's opposition National League for Democracy won 1990 parliamentary elections set aside by the junta, who have kept the 62-year-old activist under house arrest for most of the past two decades.

Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department tightened US sanctions, first imposed in 1997 and expanded in 2003, by freezing assets of top regime leaders, and a visa ban on alleged human rights violators and their families was pending.

Among those designated for sanctions were junta leader Than Shwe, who is minister of defense and chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC); Vice Senior General Maung Aye, commander of the army and vice chairman of the SPDC; Lieutenant General Thein Sein, acting prime minister and first secretary of the SPDC; and General Thura Shwe Mann, joint chief of staff and member of the SPDC, along with other senior officials and military officers.

"The military leaders in Burma are living quite a wonderful lifestyle while the people are not. By tightening sanctions on them it's not going to make the people's life any worse," said Perino.

On a more symbolic front, the White House also indicated that it would continue to refer to Myanmar by the name "Burma" in a show of support for the pro-democracy activists there.

Spokesman Tony Fratto said Washington's refusal to use the junta's term for their country was "intentional" because "we choose not to use the language of a totalitarian dictatorial regime that oppresses its people."

His comments were in line with the US State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, which pointedly note that the 1989 name change never won approval from the country's legislators.

China pleads for calm in Myanmar

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 09/27/2007 06:06:48 AM PDT

BEIJING—China issued an evenhanded plea for calm in Myanmar on Thursday after refusing to condemn the military-run government, while Southeast Asian nations expressed "revulsion" at the violent repression of the demonstrations.

The United States said it was imposing economic sanctions against 14 top officials in the military junta.

A statement issued after a foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting in New York strongly urged Myanmar's government "to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution."

The ASEAN ministers called for the release of all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.

"They expressed their revulsion to Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win over reports that the demonstrations in Myanmar are being suppressed by violent force and that there has been a number of fatalities," the statement said.

"They strongly urged Myanmar to exercise utmost restraint and seek a political solution," it said. "They called upon Myanmar to resume its efforts at national reconciliation with all parties concerned, and work towards a peaceful transition to democracy."

Myanmar is an ASEAN member, along with Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

China has come under increasing pressure to use its regional influence

to urge Myanmar's ruling junta to show restraint in dealing with the protests.

On Wednesday, China refused to condemn Myanmar and ruled out imposing sanctions, but for the first time agreed to a Security Council statement expressing concern at the violent crackdown and urging the country's military rulers to allow in a U.N. envoy.

The U.N. special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, headed for Myanmar at Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's request to try to promote a political solution and reconciliation efforts. U.N. deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Ban had been told by Win that Gambari "will be welcomed by the Myanmar government."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing that "China hopes that all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated."

The crackdown puts China in a bind. Its communist government has developed close diplomatic ties with junta leaders and is a major investor in Myanmar. But with the Beijing Olympics less than a year away, China is eager to fend off criticism that it shelters unpopular or abusive regimes.

China and Russia contend the situation in Myanmar is an internal affair and doesn't threaten international peace and security—as required for Security Council action—so getting them to agree to the press statement was considered a positive step.

The Bush administration announced that 14 senior officials in Myanmar would be subject to sanctions. Those targeted include the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, and the No. 2 man, Deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye. The action freezes any assets the 14 have in U.S. banks or other financial institutions under U.S. jurisdiction, and also prohibits any U.S. citizens from doing business with those individuals.

At the United Nations on Tuesday, Bush accused Myanmar of imposing "a 19-year reign of fear" that denies basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship.

"The world is watching the people of Burma take to the streets to demand their freedom, and the American people stand in solidarity with these brave individuals," Bush said in a statement.

European Union diplomats agreed to consider imposing more economic sanctions on Myanmar. Sanctions were first imposed in 1996 and include a ban on travel to Europe for top government officials, an assets freeze and a ban on arms sales to Myanmar.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing that the use of force by the junta "will solve nothing."

"We all need to agree on the fact that the Burmese government has got to stop thinking that this can be solved by police and military, and start thinking about the need for genuine reconciliation with the broad spectrum of political activists in the country," he added.

Hill was expected to discuss the violence in Myanmar with Chinese officials on the sidelines of North Korean nuclear disarmament talks this week in Beijing. He declined to say whether Washington would request specific measures from Beijing.

Among those killed Thursday was Kenji Nagai, a journalist for the Japanese video news agency APF News. Nagai, 50, had been covering the protests since Tuesday, APF representative Toru Yamaji said in Japan.

In Washington, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tokyo held Myanmar "strictly" accountable for Nagai's death. The 50-year-old journalist had been covering the protests in Yangon, APF representative Toru Yamaji said in Japan.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said Japan will lodge a protest with Myanmar, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said. "We strongly protest the Myanmar government and demand an investigation" into the death, Machimura was quoted as saying by the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, as saying. "We demand (Myanmar) take appropriate steps to ensure the safety of the Japanese citizens in that country."

Japan is to dispatch Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka to Myanmar to protest Nagai's death, Kyodo News agency reported.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his government would also press Beijing to urge the junta to end its violent repression.

———

Associated Press writers Mari Yamiguchi in Tokyo, Foster Klug and Martin Crutsinger in Washington, Jan Sliva in Brussels, Belgium, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.