Myanmar rejects call for talks

JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Scolding an unnamed foreign bully, Myanmar’s regime shrugged off U.N. pressure Wednesday for negotiations between the ruling generals and the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari offered to mediate talks between Suu Kyi and the regime’s point man on the crisis, Labor Minister Aung Kyi, according to a lengthy account in the regime’s New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

But the report said Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan, the information minister, told Gambari that “currently the tripartite meeting will not be possible.”

Gambari is scheduled to end his five-day visit today, and there was no indication that he had been granted a meeting with the government’s leader, senior Gen. Than Shwe.

That would be a clear snub of the U.N. envoy, who was allowed to speak with Than Shwe in early October, when foreign outrage over the military’s violent crackdown against democracy demonstrators was most intense.

The U.S. tightened sanctions against Myanmar, also known as Burma, and has threatened to impose more restrictions if the government does not heed calls for reforms and engage in meaningful talks with Suu Kyi. Neighboring countries, including India and China, oppose tougher sanctions.

The information minister told Gambari that if a big power “bullies” the U.N. Security Council into punishing Myanmar, his country has no choice but to endure it. Such a move could backfire, though, damaging efforts to negotiate reforms with the government, he said.

The general repeated the junta’s position that talks can’t begin with Suu Kyi until she meets certain conditions, such as ending her call for sanctions against the regime.

Aung Kyi, the minister appointed to head any discussions with Suu Kyi, met with her on Oct. 25. “He is going to hold further meetings with her,” the information minister told Gambari. He said Gambari would be allowed to meet with her again.

Gambari did not publicly comment on the talks.

The junta says 10 people were killed and 14 injured when authorities crushed democracy demonstrations in September. Foreign governments and human rights groups say the number of dead is much higher.

Despite reports that the regime continues to hunt democracy activists, Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that all but 91 of 2,927 people, including Buddhist monks, rounded up after the September protests had been released.

“As the remaining persons are actually involved in violence and terrorist acts in one way or another, we are taking necessary measures to take action against them in accord with the law,” he said, according to a transcript of his statement.

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paul.watson@latimes.com