In this Myanmar News Agency photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, newly-appointed Myanmar Liaison Minister Aung Kyi, right, meets with Aung San Suu Kyi, detained leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), at the state guest house in Yangon, Myanmar, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007. It was the first known meeting between Suu Kyi, under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years, and retired major general Aung Kyi, who was appointed to the post on Oct. 8 to hold talks with her. (AP Photo/Myanmar News Agency via Xinhua)
Show of Force in Myanmar on Anniversary
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Hundreds of riot police armed with assault rifles and tear gas moved into position at sites in Yangon where protesters staged a bloody, pro-democracy demonstration a month ago Friday.
The sudden show of force after several weeks of relative quiet in Myanmar's largest city appeared aimed at forestalling any protests to mark the one-month anniversary of a key day in the anti-regime uprising by Buddhist monks, activists and ordinary citizens.
There were no immediate signs that any public protests would take place.
Security was especially tight at the eastern gate of the famed Shwedagon pagoda where monks were beaten as police broke up a protest on Sept. 26. Barbed wire was erected around the area while police also took up positions near the Sule Pagoda in the heart of the city and other sites of earlier protests.
Friday also marked the end of the Lent period, an important Buddhist holiday when monks can leave their monasteries to travel after several months of monsoon season retreats.
The reappearance of heavy security in Yangon came a day after detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with a newly appointed Myanmar government official, part of a U.N.-brokered attempt to nudge her and the military junta toward reconciliation.
It was the first known meeting between Suu Kyi — under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years — and "minister for relations" retired major general Aung Kyi, who was appointed to the post on Oct. 8 to hold talks with her.
"I hope this is the beginning of the (reconciliation) process," Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, said Friday.
But some residents and Western diplomats remained skeptical, noting that such earlier meetings produced nothing and seemed merely aimed at easing international pressure on the junta.
Suu Kyi was driven Thursday a few minutes from her home to a government guest house, where she held talks with Aung Kyi between 2 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., state-run television reported, but gave no further details.
Television images showed Suu Kyi and Aung Kyi seated in high-backed chairs having a discussion, a scene that suggested two dignitaries in a meeting rather than someone under house arrest.
Appointing a liaison officer had been suggested by U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his Sept. 29-Oct. 2 visit to Myanmar, state media said. Gambari had met with junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe and Suu Kyi separately during his visit.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said "the meeting is a good thing, but not sufficient."
"There is a need for a full reconciliation process to start, a transition" to democracy, he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
Khalilzad said Suu Kyi "has to be in circumstances where she can consult, meet with her party members, and have informed discussion with the government with regard to the transition, and those circumstances are not there."
He said the U.S. and the U.N. are trying to get India, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to use their influence to encourage the government to change Suu Kyi's conditions, speed Gambari's return, and release prisoners.
The U.N. has said Myanmar had agreed to move up the date of Gambari's next visit to early November from mid-November.
Myanmar's government has been strongly criticized for sending troops to crush peaceful protests in late September. The military junta said 10 people were killed, but diplomats and dissidents say the death toll is likely much higher. Thousands were arrested, and the hunt for participants is reportedly continuing.
Earlier this month, the government said the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, was willing to meet with Suu Kyi — but only if she met certain conditions, such as renouncing support for other countries' economic sanctions against the military regime. Than Shwe has only met Suu Kyi once before, in 2002.
Meanwhile, Gambari met Chinese officials for a second day of talks Thursday to push Beijing to do more to pressure Myanmar's leaders to ease its restrictions on pro-democracy activists.
Making his fifth stop in a six-nation tour, Gambari met Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi a day after Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei expressed backing for the U.N. envoy's efforts.
"We will continue to support you in playing a constructive role in finding a peaceful resolution in Myanmar," Wang said before the two began their closed-door talks.
China — a political partner of Myanmar's junta and one of its top trading partners — has joined U.N. Security Council members in criticizing the crackdown and has nudged the junta to talk with Gambari. But it also has blocked the Security Council from imposing sanctions.
Myanmar's military has ruled the country since 1962. The current junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement led by Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's party won a landslide election victory.
The protests in Myanmar began Aug. 19 after the government raised fuel prices in one of Asia's poorest countries. But they were based in a deep-rooted dissatisfaction with the repressive military rule that has gripped the country, previously known as Burma, since 1962. The protests were faltering when Buddhist monks took the lead late last month.
The junta's mouthpiece, the New Light of Myanmar, reported Thursday authorities would charge what they called the "bogus" Buddhist monks who led the protests.
"Most of the monks from the National Front of Monks are ex-convicts and the bogus monks who led the protests in violation of cleric rules" will be charged, the newspaper quoted Religious Affairs Minister Brig. Gen. Thura Myint Maung as saying during a meeting with senior monks in Yangon.
The minister said authorities had detained several monks for questioning but are releasing those who had unwittingly taken part in the protests. He did not mention how many. The report also did not say what the "bogus" monks would be charged with.
Buddhist monks enjoy great respect among the country's population at large, and the violent suppression of their protests has seriously hurt the junta's reputation.
To counter the bad impression, state media have been filled with stories suggesting the monks who took part in the protests were a tiny minority and not entirely religious, and reporting virtually daily on junta members visiting monasteries to make donations.
Al menos 20.000 personas – 10.000 monjes budistas y otra misma cantidad de simpatizantes – se congregaron en las calles de Rangún para manifestar por la democracia y en contra de la Junta Militar que gobierna Birmania.

Los manifestantes se congregaron y también expresaron su apoyo a Aung San Suu Kyi, quien apareció por primera vez en cuatro años luego de que algunos monjes y simpatizantes fueran permitidos pasar a su hogar.

Esta es la mayor manifestación que se hace desde que comenzaron una serie de protestas en Birmania tras la decisión de la Junta Militar de aumentar los combustibles y costes de transporte en el país del sureste asiático.

Un grupo de al menos 200 personas se quiso dirigir a la casa de Suu Kyi, ganadora del Premio Nobel de la Paz, principal opositora y en arresto domiciliario desde 2003. Sin embargo, abandonaron su intento luego de que la policía les impidiera el paso.

Los monjes llevaban un cartel que rezaba: "El amor y amabilidad deben estar sobre todo". Otros monjes gritaban: "Marchamos por el pueblo" mientras pedían más apoyo por parte de la población. "Queremos la reconciliación nacional, el diálogo con los militares y la libertad para Aung San Suu Kui y los otros presos políticos", declaró por megáfono un líder de la marcha.

Es la mayor manifestación desde 1988 cuando el padre de Suu Kyi tomó el control de un movimiento pro-democracia. La Junta Militar luego aterrorizó el país matando miles.

Ayer fue un día especial luego de que se le permitiera a un grupo de 2.000 monjes ir hasta la entrada de la casa de Suu Kyi, quien salió brevemente con lágrimas en sus ojos.

En respuesta a la situación en Birmania (o también llamado Myanmar), el Secretario General de la Asociación de Naciones del Sureste Asiático, de la cual Birmania forma parte, pidió a las autoridades birmanas que se abstuvieran de realizar represalias violentas.

"Espero que las autoridades relevantes en Myanmar no tomen ninguna acción fuerte y hagan de las protestas una gran confrontación", declaró el Secretario General de la ASEAN, Ong Keng Yong, a ''Associated Press''.