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Tension grips a quiet Myanmar

SINGAPORE: Tension-filled calm reigned across Myanmar on Wednesday, with the ruling junta making no comment on United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s just-concluded mission to begin “a peaceful transition to democracy”.

Western diplomats in Yangon on Wednesday spoke about the unaccounted disappearances of Buddhist monks and a creeping climate of fear among the other civilians. Some monasteries were said to wear a deserted look now. While this raised suspicions about the fate of the monks, a few other places remained barricaded by security forces. Monks were in the vanguard of the recent waves of anti-junta protest in Yangon and many other places across Myanmar.

The flow of information from inside Myanmar, through the internet and satellite-uplinked images, has now slowed down considerably. However, according to these diplomats, “midnight arrests” of suspected pro-democracy activists were becoming more common now. Also, more stories were becoming known about the “violent reaction” by the regime’s soldiers and police to the peaceful marches by the protesters last week, it was emphasised.

Gaining greater currency were the stories about the “brutal” attacks on protesters and the conscientious “disobedience” by some soldiers, who refused to follow orders to shoot at monks.

Against this background, Mr. Gambari, who arrived in Singapore on his way to New York after his latest mission to Myanmar, refrained from making any comment on his talks with the junta chief, Senior General Than Shwe, and democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.

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