Dear Friends,

The UN Special Envoy Mr. Gambari is back from his second trip to Burma and will brief the Security Council at the UN headquarters in New York today on November 13, at 3 pm (NY Time).

Meanwhile, the manhunt continues in Burma in spite of the presence of UN Human Right Special Rapporteur in the country, who arrived in Burma on Sunday, November 11.

The leading Buddhist monk and organizer of September protests, U Gambira, was arrested on November 4 in Sint-gaing Town, Mandalay Division, as reported by DVB today.

His family members – mother, a sister and 2 brothers were taken hostage in October during attempts to hunt him down. His elder brother, Aung Kyaw Kyaw, who is general secretary of NLD party in Pauk Town of Magwe Division, is still detained in Insein Prison while his mother, sister and a brother were released. His father is believed to be still in hiding.

Bo Bo Win, a youth activist from Dawpon Township, Rangoon, was also arrested in downtown Rangoon this morning on November 13, while attempting to put anti-junta posters on a pro-junta and anti-US billboard.

The Irrawaddy news reported that the junta took the UN Special Rapporteur to Kya Khat Wine monastery in Pegu Town north of Rangoon and later, he met with officials of Shwedagon Pagoda on Sunday. Yesterday Prof. Pinheiro visited infamous Insein Prison and the scene of a bloody crackdown by security forces at the Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery. The monastery's abbot, U Yawata, told special rapporteur that when troops raided the monastery in late September as many as 70 monks were detained. Many were badly beaten.

Before his trip, Prof. Pinheiro said he would investigate the crackdown on the monk-led demonstrations and try to determine the death toll and number of arrests. He said if he could not meet with the people he wishes to talk to, he would immediately leave the country.

His last visit to Burma was in 2003, when he found a secret tape recorder in the room he was using to interview political prisoners in Insein Prison. He immediately cancelled his inspection tour and left Burma and since then the Burmese junta rejected his later requests to revisit Burma for the past four years.

On the regional front, we are pleased to learn that India sought release of  political activists imprisoned as well as an inquiry into the violent crackdown on peaceful protests by security forces, as External Affairs Minister told reporters yesterday on the sidelines of a conference just ahead of his meeting with Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo, in which they were also expected to discuss the Burma situation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will attend the East Asia Summit that convenes in Singapore on Nov 21 and Burma will surely be the highlight of the summit agenda.

Attached, please find the summary of international responses to the recent crisis in Burma. The purpose of APPPB providing this summary is to give readers an overview of the international responses to the recent crisis in Burma, to reflect on what we have achieved and to stimulate further analysis.

Summary of International Responses109kb PDF format

It compiles the reactions we have seen from the international community, individual governments and civil society, starting with the early solidarity protests and statements in response to the initial marches and arrests of political activist, continuing with worldwide reactions to the large scale monk-led demonstrations and the following violent crackdown. We hope you find this useful for your continuing work on Burma.

In Solidarity,

The APPPB Secretariat

Email: appartnership@gmail.com
Blog: www.apppb.blogspot. com