Tue Oct 9, 12:27 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar - The ruling junta appointed a Cabinet official Monday to coordinate contacts with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a move that comes with Myanmar under intense international pressure to enter talks with the democracy movement.

Deputy Labor Minister Aung Kyi, a retired major general, was named to the post of "liaison minister," state radio and television said Monday night.

On Tuesday, the junta said it hoped to achieve "smooth relations" with Suu Kyi. The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece of the junta, printed a brief official announcement on its front page saying that Kyi had been appointed "minister for relations" to coordinate contacts with Suu Kyi, the country's democracy icon.

The appointment was suggested by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his visit to Myanmar earlier this month, the statement said. It added that the junta had accepted the idea "in respect of Gambari's recommendation and in view of smooth relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."

Aung Kyi's exact duties were not detailed, and the announcement did not say when he might meet with the 62-year-old Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years without trial.

But it appeared Aung Kyi would coordinate all of Suu Kyi's contacts with both the regime and the United Nations, which is seeking to end the political deadlock between democracy advocates and a military that has ruled since 1962.

Aung Kyi has a reputation among foreign diplomats, U.N. officials and aid groups as being relatively accessible and reasonable compared to top junta leaders, who are highly suspicious of outsiders. He has had the delicate task of dealing with the International Labor Organization, which accuses the junta of using forced labor.

The government announced last week that the junta's leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, was willing to meet personally with Suu Kyi, but only if she met certain conditions, including renouncing support for economic sanctions by foreign countries against the junta.

It remains unknown if Suu Kyi would accept the offer, which also called on her to give up what the junta said were her efforts backing "confrontation" and "utter devastation." The regime accuses her and her party of working with other nations to sabotage its own plans for a phased return to democracy.

Than Shwe has only met with Suu Kyi once before, in 2002, and the talks quickly broke down.

The appointment of a liaison officer was suggested by Gambari during his visit to Myanmar last week, the announcement on state media said. Gambari met with both top junta officials and Suu Kyi.

Gambari's trip to the Southeast Asian nation also known as Burma came after troops quelled democracy protests with gunfire. The regime said 10 people were killed, but dissident groups put the death toll at up to 200 and say 6,000 people were detained, including thousands of monks who were leading the demonstrations.

The government has continued to round up suspected activists, although some people have been released.

Security continued to ease in Yangon, the country's biggest city. Some roadblocks were removed and visitors began trickling back to the heavily guarded Shwedagon and Sule pagodas, the starting and finishing points for many of the protests.

But some residents have engaged in a low-key resistance to the military in recent days, harassing soldiers by tossing rocks at them at night, student activists claimed Monday.

They said troops had responded by detaining suspects and even suspects' relatives, including children, said the activists, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest.

Protests erupted Aug. 19 over the government raising fuel prices, but anger mushroomed into broad-based marches by tens of thousands demanding democratic reforms.

On Monday, the state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said protesters could achieve their demands — including Suu Kyi's release — by following the military government's own seven-step "road map" agenda for restoring democracy.

"The three demands of the protesters — lowering consumer prices, release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, and national reconciliation — cannot be satisfied through protest," the English-language paper said, using the polite term for addressing older women in front of Suu Kyi's name.

"When the state constitution is approved, the fulfillment of the three demands will be within reach," said the commentary in New Light of Myanmar, which is a mouthpiece for the government but often represents extreme points of view that are not official policy.

The road map process is supposed to culminate in a general election at an unspecified date in the future. But so far only the first stage — drawing up guidelines for a new constitution — has been completed, and government critics say the convention that drafted them was stage-managed by the military.

Drafting the constitution is supposed to be the next stage, and the document would then be put to a national referendum. The previous constitution was suspended in 1988 when the military crushed a democracy uprising by killing as many as 3,000 people.

The junta then allowed elections in 1990, but nullified the vote after Suu Kyi's party won.

Mon Oct 8, 9:09 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS - China on Monday spearheaded a move in the UN Security Council to soften a Western-sponsored statement on the military crackdown in Myanmar amid broad agreement on the need for ending the violence and freeing political prisoners.

Experts from the council's 15 members huddled behind closed doors for nearly three hours in "a constructive atmosphere" and the sponsors agreed to come up with a revised text taking into account of the amendments, said a delegate from Ghana, which chairs the council this month.

"They intend to circulate a revised text some time this evening which we would then refer to our capitals for consideration and instructions," Albert Yankey told AFP.

The United States, Britain and France introduced their initial draft Friday after the council heard a report from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on his recent mission to Myanmar to defuse the crisis.

The text would condemn "the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" by Myanmar's rulers, urge them to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Yankey said there was consensus on calling the violence by the military regime and its repression of peaceful protests "unacceptable," on the need for dialogue and national reconciliation, and for expressing support for Gambari's mission.

But he noted that China, backed by several other delegations, insisted on replacing the word "condemn" by "strongly deplore" and dropping a reference to consideration of "further steps," suggesting instead that the council continues to monitor the situation.

The Chinese also objected to a detailed formulation in the draft of the steps the Myanmar regime must take to defuse the crisis, the diplomat said.

"China has a key role to play (in the crisis) and needs to maintain communications with the regime. The same applies to Gambari," said Yankey, who noted that members were keen "not to jeopardize" the twin mediation.

"There is no delegation that does not want to see a quick adoption" of the text, he said, adding that all members were ready for compromise.

Yankey said he did not expect the experts to meet again until Wednesday.

The text was debated here amid intense pressure for strong council action from world public opinion following outrage over Myanmar's deadly repression of peaceful anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks late last month.

At least 13 people died and more than 2,100 were locked up in the crackdown as security forces moved to crush protests involving up to 100,000 people with live rounds, baton charges and tear gas.

On Saturday, protests were held in several cities around the world in support of Myanmar's embattled pro-democracy movement.

Italy's UN Ambassador Marcello Spatafora for his part stressed that it was urgent for the council to send a "strong, unified" message to Myanmar's ruling junta.

Unlike a resolution, a so-called presidential statement requires the consent of all 15 members to be adopted.

China, which has close ties with Myanmar and favors constructive engagement with its military regime, warned last week that putting pressure on the ruling generals "would lead to confrontation."

The United States has threatened to push for UN sanctions against the military regime, including an arms embargo, if it refuses to halt its crackdown and refused to cooperate with Gambari's mediation for national reconciliation.

But any sanctions resolution was likely to face resistance and possibly a veto from China and Russia, which deem the turmoil in the southeast Asian country an internal matter and not a threat to broader peace and security.

In a conciliatory move apparently aimed at forestalling tough council condemnation, Myanmar's rulers trumpeted the release of hundreds of monks and demonstrators and donated thousands of dollars as well as food and medicines to monasteries in Yangon.

And junta chief Than Shwe named the deputy labor minister, Aung Kyi, as the "manager for relations" with Aung San Suu Kyi, four days after the military supremo made a heavily conditioned offer to meet with the Nobel Peace prize laureate, state television said.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has come to symbolize Myanmar's peaceful struggle for democracy, has spent most of the past 18 years under house arrest.

Mon Oct 8, 8:16 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS - China, backed by several Security Council members, offered various amendments Monday to soften a Western-sponsored statement on the bloody military crackdown in Myanmar.

Experts from the council's 15 members huddled behind closed doors for nearly three hours in "a constructive atmosphere" and the sponsors agreed to come up with a revised text taking into account of the amendments, said a delegate from Ghana, which chairs the council this month.

They intend to circulate a revised text some time this evening which would then refer to our capitals for consideration and instructions," Albert Yankey told AFP.

The United States, Britain and France introduced their initial draft Friday after the council heard a report from UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari on his recent mission to Myanmar to defuse the crisis.

The text would condemn "the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" by Myanmar's rulers, urge them to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Yankey said there was consensus on calling the violence by the military regime and its repression of peaceful protests "unacceptable," on the need for dialogue and national reconciliation, and for expressing support for Gambari's mission.

But he noted that China, backed by several other delegations, insisted on replacing the word "condemn" by "strongly deplore" and dropping a reference to consideration of "further steps," suggesting instead that the council continues to monitor the situation.

The Chinese also objected to a detailed formulation in the draft of the steps the Myanmar regime must take to defuse the crisis, the diplomat said.

"China has a key role to play (in the crisis) and needs to maintain communications with the regime. The same applies to Gambari," said Yankey, who noted that members were keen "not to jeopardize" the twin mediation.

"There is no delegation that does not want to see a quick adoption" of the text, he said, adding that all members were ready for compromise.

Yankey said he did not expect the experts to meet again until Wednesday.

The text was debated here amid intense pressure for strong council action from world public opinion following outrage over Myanmar's deadly repression of peaceful anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks late last month.

At least 13 people died and more than 2,100 were locked up in the crackdown as security forces moved to crush protests involving up to 100,000 people with live rounds, baton charges and tear gas.

On Saturday, protests were held in several cities around the world in support of Myanmar's embattled pro-democracy movement.

Mon Oct 8, 11:49 AM ET

YANGON - Myanmar's military junta has appointed a deputy minister to negotiate with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on the regime's offer of direct talks, state television said on Monday.

Aung Kyi, a major general who became deputy labor minister last year, would "make contact and deal with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the future," MRTV said, without giving further details.

After the largest anti-junta protests in nearly 20 years, Senior General Than Shwe, whose loathing for Suu Kyi is well known, offered direct talks if she abandoned "confrontation" and support for sanctions and "utter devastation."

There was no reaction from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy to Aung Kyi's appointment. But NLD spokesman Nyan Win has said Than Shwe's offer could lead to talks about talks.

Analysts caution against optimism as hopes of change in the past have been dashed so often.

"It's too early to assess this gambit by the regime," a retired professor said. "It comes at a time of mounting pressure from the international community. We need to wait for further movement."

There has been no word from Suu Kyi, 62, who has spent 12 of the past 18 years in detention and is confined to her house in Yangon without a telephone and requiring official permission, granted rarely, to receive visitors.

The New Light of Myanmar, the general's official mouthpiece, suggested on Monday that Suu Kyi would remain under house arrest until a new constitution was approved -- a dim and distant prospect, according to most analysts.

It also gave short shrift to the demands of the thousands who joined last month's protests crushed by the regime.

"The three demands of the protesters -- lowering consumer prices, release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, and national reconciliation -- cannot be satisfied through protest," the paper said in a commentary.

"Now, those responsible are making arrangements to draft the state constitution and collect the list of voters," it added. "When the state constitution is approved, the fulfillment of the three demands will be within reach."

DISCIPLINED DEMOCRACY

Holding a referendum on a new constitution is the fourth stage in a seven-step "roadmap to democracy."

For Suu Kyi, the omens are not good.

Stage One of the roadmap -- a National Convention to draw up the "detailed basic principles" of the charter -- took 14 years.

Furthermore, Stage Two -- "step-by-step implementation of the process necessary for the emergence of a genuine and disciplined democratic state" -- is so unclear few know what it means, let alone when it can be completed.

Stage Three is drafting the constitution, a process that many thought the National Convention was meant to have been doing for the last 14 years of on-off meetings, most of which have been boycotted by Suu Kyi's party.

The NLD won a massive election victory in 1990 only to be denied power by the army, which first seized power in 1962.

Most Western governments dismissed the convention as a sham to cement the generals' grip on power.

Snippets of the "detailed basic principles" of the charter appearing in state media point to little transfer of power to a civilian administration or autonomy for the former Burma's 100-plus ethnic minorities.

The commander-in-chief of the army will be the most powerful man in the country under the constitutional guidelines agreed at the national convention, with the power to appoint the ministers of defense, interior and border affairs.

He will also be able to assume power "in times of emergency."

The junta has cut security in Yangon steadily since it sent in soldiers 10 days ago to end to the biggest pro-democracy protests since 1988. Official media say 10 people were killed, although Western governments say the toll is likely to have been higher.

In 1988, up to 3,000 people are thought to have died in a crackdown over several weeks on protests led by students, as well as the Buddhist monks who spearheaded last month's marches which filled five city blocks at their height.

Mon Oct 8, 10:49 AM ET

YANGON - Myanmar's military government has appointed an official to maintain "relations" with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, state television reported Monday.

Junta leader Than Shwe named the deputy labour minister Aung Kyi "to continue relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the future," state television said, using an honorific to show respect for the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who concluded a mission here last week, had recommended that the junta task an official with maintaining relations with opposition leader, the report added.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for most of the last 18 years, but the military government rarely has any contact with her.

The appointment came just four days after Than Shwe made an offer to meet with her, although the proposal hinged on major conditions including a demand that she drop her support for international sanctions on the regime.

The latest announcement also came with the UN Security Council due Monday to weigh a draft statement condemning the military regime.

The non-binding text, drafted by the United States, Britain and France, was submitted after the world body Friday heard a report from Gambari on his mission to defuse the crisis.

The statement condemns "violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" and urges Myanmar's rulers to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Mon Oct 8, 3:42 AM ET

TOKYO - Mourners paid their final respects Monday to a Japanese freelance journalist shot dead by troops in Myanmar while covering mass pro-democracy demonstrations last month.

Kenji Nagai, 50, was killed on September 27 in Yangon as he filmed the crackdown on protesters by Myanmar's junta after demonstrations led by Buddhist monks.

He appeared to have been shot at close range by security forces, according to television footage. Nagai's family members, journalists and refugees who fled the junta lamented his death at the funeral held in Tokyo.

"Journalists keep records and report at the sites of news, and that's their job," said Jiro Ishimaru, the chief editor of Asia Press International, a Tokyo-based cooperative of Asian photo and video journalists.

"He was killed doing his job. This very fact breaks my heart and makes me feel frustrated," said Ishimaru, who met Nagai when reporting at the border between China and North Korea.

Police said Nagai died of massive blood loss after a bullet pierced his liver.

Myanmar insists the killing was an accident but Japan is sceptical of the explanation and has set up a taskforce to investigate whether the shooting was deliberate.

Nagai was employed by APF News, a small agency based in Tokyo that specialises in reports from countries where most Japanese television networks dare not tread.

Much of mainstream Japanese media stay away from combat zones, but a small group of Japanese independent journalists is famed for heading on tough assignments.

Mon Oct 8, 3:26 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Faced with mounting world outrage over violence in Myanmar, the UN Security Council was to meet Monday, under pressure to quickly condemn the military regime for crushing pro-democracy protests.

The 15-member body was to weigh a draft statement that would condemn "the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations" by Myanmar's rulers, urge them to "cease repressive measures" and release detainees as well as all political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The non-binding text, drafted by the United States, Britain and France, was submitted Friday to the full council after members heard a report from UN emissary Ibrahim Gambari on his recent mission to defuse the crisis.

But despite worldwide protests in support of Myanmar's embattled pro-democracy movement, the draft was likely to be toned down at the request of China, Russia and possibly Indonesia, diplomats said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's state press trumpeted the release of hundreds of monks and demonstrators ahead of the council's meeting. State media reported Monday that the junta had donated thousands of dollars as well as food and medicines to monasteries in Yangon, in an apparent gesture of reconciliation.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said more than half of the 2,171 people arrested after the biggest anti-government protests in nearly two decades had been released, repeating figures given on state television.

But army trucks remained stationed at Yangon landmarks Sunday, including by the Sule and Shwedagon Pagodas -- rallying points for last month's demonstrations.

The United States has threatened to push for UN sanctions against Myanmar's ruling generals, including an arms embargo, if they refuse to halt their crackdown and to cooperate with Gambari's mediation for national reconciliation.

But any sanctions resolution was likely to face resistance and possibly a veto from China and Russia, who deem the turmoil in the southeast Asian country an internal matter and not a threat to regional or international peace and security.

Last January, China and Russia used a rare double veto to block a US-sponsored draft resolution that would have called on Myanmar's rulers to free all political detainees and end sexual violence by the military.

A Western diplomat said that council experts would try Monday to work out an amended version of the text which would then be submitted to their ambassadors for approval.

Unlike a resolution, a so-called presidential statement requires the consent of all 15 members to be adopted.

The Western sponsors said they expected approval in the coming days.

On Friday, Gambari said that Security Council unity was "key to really getting Myanmar authorities to move along the lines that we all want, which is a peaceful, democratic Myanmar, with full respect for human rights."

He said that all council members agreed the status quo in Myanmar "is unacceptable and unsustainable" and backed his plan to pay a return visit to Myanmar before mid-November, "to keep the momentum."

China, which has close ties with Myanmar and favors constructive engagement with its military regime, has however warned that putting pressure on the junta "would lead to confrontation."

"If the situation in Myanmar takes a worse turn because of external intervention, it will be the people of the country who will bear the brunt," China's UN envoy Wang Guangya said.

Gambari also noted that council members agreed that Myanmar's partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and regional powers such as China, India and Japan have a key role to play in defusing the crisis.

But council members face intense pressure for tougher action from public opinion and human rights groups.

Yvonne Terlingen, head of Amnesty International's UN office, called on the council to agree "a strong statement expressing its deep concern about continuing human rights violations and calling on the Myanmar authorities to take immediate concrete action to protect human rights."