12 yrs and counting for Suu Kyi

CANBERRA – Australia slapped financial sanctions on Myanmar’s generals and their families yesterday as supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 12 years in captivity with protests in 12 cities across the world.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the measures, in response to last month’s bloody crackdown on the biggest democracy protests in two decades, would hit 418 people, including junta leader Senior General Than Shwe. “These new measures are designed to put further pressure on the regime and its supporters while avoiding harm to the people of Burma,” Downer said in a statement.Given that two-way trade with the former Burma amounted to just $48 million in 2006, the measures appear to be aimed mainly at junta family members going to Australian schools and universities.Mirroring tough restrictions imposed by the United States, the sanctions are a rare example of a government in Asia taking concrete action against the junta, which has so far only come under verbal pressure from its regional neighbours.However, the marking of 12 cumulative years in custody for Nobel laureate Suu Kyi gave an added twist to street protests against the generals as UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari started the Chinese leg of a regional tour.Twelve white-robed protesters in Suu Kyi masks stood outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok, trying to force Beijing in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics to nudge its wayward southern neighbour and friend towards reform.”China, China, go, go,” the protesters chanted, along with ‘Free Burma’ and ‘Free Aung San Suu Kyi’.Protests at 12 noon local time were planned for 12 cities – London, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Vienna, Sydney, Washington, Toronto, New York, Brasilia, Bangkok and Cape Town.Suu Kyi, 62, won the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991, a year after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won an election landslide only to be denied power by the army that has ruled unchecked since a 1962 coup.Six female fellow peace laureates called on the world not to ease up on the junta after its crackdown on huge pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks.State media said 10 people died, although Western governments say the toll is probably far higher.”The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is the most visible manifestation of the regime’s brutality, but it is only the tip of the iceberg,” the six wrote in a letter in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.A major arms supplier and trading partner, China is one of the few countries thought to have any sway over the isolated Myanmar regime, which has lived with US and European sanctions for 10 years with little apparent discomfort.Nampa-Reuters”These new measures are designed to put further pressure on the regime and its supporters while avoiding harm to the people of Burma,” Downer said in a statement.Given that two-way trade with the former Burma amounted to just $48 million in 2006, the measures appear to be aimed mainly at junta family members going to Australian schools and universities.Mirroring tough restrictions imposed by the United States, the sanctions are a rare example of a government in Asia taking concrete action against the junta, which has so far only come under verbal pressure from its regional neighbours.However, the marking of 12 cumulative years in custody for Nobel laureate Suu Kyi gave an added twist to street protests against the generals as UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari started the Chinese leg of a regional tour.Twelve white-robed protesters in Suu Kyi masks stood outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok, trying to force Beijing in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics to nudge its wayward southern neighbour and friend towards reform.”China, China, go, go,” the protesters chanted, along with ‘Free Burma’ and ‘Free Aung San Suu Kyi’.Protests at 12 noon local time were planned for 12 cities – London, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Vienna, Sydney, Washington, Toronto, New York, Brasilia, Bangkok and Cape Town.Suu Kyi, 62, won the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991, a year after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won an election landslide only to be denied power by the army that has ruled unchecked since a 1962 coup.Six female fellow peace laureates called on the world not to ease up on the junta after its crackdown on huge pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks.State media said 10 people died, although Western governments say the toll is probably far higher.”The detention of Aung San Suu Kyi is the most visible manifestation of the regime’s brutality, but it is only the tip of the iceberg,” the six wrote in a letter in Britain’s Guardian newspaper.A major arms supplier and trading partner, China is one of the few countries thought to have any sway over the isolated Myanmar regime, which has lived with US and European sanctions for 10 years with little apparent discomfort.Nampa-Reuters