U.N. Worker Arrested in Myanmar

U.N. Worker Arrested in Myanmar

By THOMAS FULLER
Published: October 3, 2007
BANGKOK, Oct. 3 โ€” A local staff member of the United Nations in Myanmar and three of her family members were taken from their home in Yangon before dawn today as part of an ongoing crackdown on demonstrators.
Charles Petrie, the most senior official for the United Nations in the country, said a 38-year-old woman, her husband and two relatives were detained by security personnel at 4 a.m. He said he was not releasing their names to avoid jeopardizing their return.
The U.N. workerโ€™s arrest is one of an unknown number of nighttime abductions conducted by the junta to identify and round up people who took part in the demonstrations, which were the largest protests against the junta in nearly two decades.
Another U.N. official who was arrested last week and then released said he was taken to a university in Yangon where about 800 people were held in squalid conditions.
โ€œWeโ€™re concerned with what seems to be happening at night โ€” there are arrests and people being detained,โ€ Mr. Petrie said. โ€œThere is palpable fear even among our staff.โ€
Yangon residents say helicopters fly over the city throughout the night as military trucks patrol the streets with loudspeakers broadcasting intimidating messages.
Shari Villarosa, the highest ranking U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, said the message, broadcast in Burmese, was roughly this: โ€œWe have your pictures. Weโ€™re going to come and get you.โ€
โ€œI think they just are arresting anybody that they have the least bit of suspicion about,โ€ Ms. Villarosa said. โ€œThis is a military that rules by fear and intimidation. Wouldnโ€™t you be terrified if you were subject to being rousted out of bed at 2 oโ€™clock at the morning, taken away and never knew why?โ€
The issue of nighttime raids was raised by Ibrahim Gambari, the special envoy of the United Nations, during a meeting Tuesday with Myanmarโ€™s top general, Than Shwe. Three U.N. workers who had been detained last week were subsequently released.
Mr. Gambari, who was scheduled to fly to New York late today to report on his trip to the U.N. secretary general, declined to speak with reporters during a stopover in Singapore.
There are 3,000 U.N. staff in Myanmar, mainly working in poverty alleviation projects. โ€œOur sense is that the U.N. is not being targeted,โ€ Mr. Petrie said. โ€œThe U.N. is being caught up in broader events.โ€
The number of people killed or detained during the crackdown remains unknown.
Reuters news agency reported from Yangon that 80 monks and 149 women, possibly nuns, who had been rounded up last week were freed today. The agency quoted one of the monks saying he had been interrogated but not physically abused.
The news agency also quoted a relative of three of the released women saying those being interrogated were divided into four categories: passers-by, those who watched, those who clapped and those who joined in.
The government says 10 people were killed in the crackdown including Kenji Nagai, a Japanese photojournalist, whose body was scheduled to be flown back to Japan on Thursday. Diplomats and Burmese dissident groups believe the total death toll was higher.
Japanโ€™s foreign minister, Masahiko Komura, said Wednesday that Tokyo was considering cutting back its aid to Myanmar to protest Mr. Nagaiโ€™s death and the crackdown, according to Kyodo News agency. Annual aid to Myanmar from Japan is about $25 million.
More Articles in International ยป

By : sycburma