LAT: Tutu, Havel Ask U.N. Intervention in Myanmar [View All]

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Tutu, Havel Ask U.N. Intervention in Myanmar
Human rights activists seek a nonmilitary response to restore democracy and deliver aid to nation called a 'threat to the peace.'

By Richard C. Paddock, Times Staff Writer


BANGKOK, Thailand — Branding Myanmar's military regime a "threat to the peace," a global coalition of human rights advocates is urging the United Nations to intervene in the Southeast Asian nation to restore democracy, deliver humanitarian aid and win the release of political prisoners.

Led by retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and former Czech President Vaclav Havel, activists are calling on the U.N. Security Council to adopt a resolution that would pave the way for nonmilitary intervention in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

In a 70-page report that accuses the regime of using forced labor, rape, "ethnic cleansing" and child soldiers to control its population, Tutu and Havel make the case that abuses by Myanmar are more egregious than in countries where the United Nations intervened during the 1990s, including Sierra Leone, Haiti and Cambodia.

"If a government violates the fundamental rights of its own people, that can't be left as a domestic issue," said Tutu in a telephone interview from his home in Cape Town, South Africa. "I believe that we have an almost open-and-shut case for the intervention of the United Nations."

Tutu, 74, the 1984 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his struggle against apartheid, and Havel, 69, the Czech playwright who helped end the era of Soviet domination, called on the Security Council to pass a resolution requiring Myanmar to work with the U.N. to achieve national reconciliation and restore a democratically elected government....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-myanmar21oct21,0,4131448.story?coll=la-home-world