Suu Kyi decries police crackdown on protesters

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Supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Monywa, where she is urging a negotiated resolution to the conflict over the controversial military-backed mine. (Photo credit: Associated Press)

Opposition leader hits out at violence, seeks to mediate in conflict over controversial mine

MONYWA, Myanmar: Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi publicly criticised the crackdown on protesters at a mine in north-western Myanmar and said yesterday that the public needed an explanation of the violence that injured dozens, including Buddhist monks, Associated Press reported.

At the same time, she indicated in her speech to villagers that the protesters may have to accept a compromise for the sake of national honour. She said she would try to mediate in the conflict over the mine, which protesters say is causing environmental and social problems.Now serving in Parliament after years as a political prisoner of the ruling junta, Ms Suu Kyi received a hero’s welcome in the town of Monywa, where residents were rattled by the government’s biggest crackdown on demonstrations since reformist President Thein Sein took office last year.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 10,000, Ms Suu Kyi made the point that she did not want confrontation but said people had the right to ask why the authorities cracked down so harshly on the non-violent protesters.

Activists and Buddhist monks had occupied the mine for 11 days before the police used water cannons, tear gas and smoke bombs to break up the protest early on Thursday.

Ms Suu Kyi visited injured protesters and met mining company officials and activists on Thursday. She was due to meet security officials yesterday.

The mine is a joint venture between China’s Wanbao Mining Copper and the military-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings. Most people there remain suspicious of the military and see China as an exploitative investor that helped support its rule.

Ms Suu Kyi said the deals were done under the previous military regime without taking into account the wishes of the people but that Myanmar should honour its commitments nonetheless, especially since they involve a neighbouring country. 

Myanmar verifies citizenship of Rakhine residents

The immigration authorities in the volatile state of Rakhine in western Myanmar have launched a major operation aimed at verifying the citizenship of Muslims living there. The move comes after sectarian unrest erupted between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in June.The operation began quietly with no public announcement in the township of Pauktaw on Nov 8. It will eventually be carried out across all of Rakhine state, the coastal territory where nearly 200 people have died in the last five months, and 110,000 more, mostly Muslims, have fled.

The Thailand-based advocacy group, the Arakan Project, warned that the results could be used to definitively rule out citizenship for the Rohingya, who have suffered discrimination for decades and are widely viewed as foreigners from Bangladesh.

So far, more than 2,000 Muslim families have gone through the process, but “no illegal settlers have been found”, said state spokesman Win Myaing. He declined to say whether illegal settlers would be deported.