A French government official urged stronger European Union sanctions against Burma's junta on Wednesday, as President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to meet with opponents of the Southeast Asian nation's regime.
As anti-government protests continued in Burma, with security forces firing warning shots and tear gas, France's European affairs minister, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, said the situation there was unacceptable and getting worse. He called the protests "completely legitimate."
"Among Europeans, we must discuss the necessity of reinforcing sanctions against the junta," he told France-Info radio.
The EU had threatened a day earlier to strengthen existing sanctions against the regime if it uses violence to put down the demonstrations. US President George W Bush announced a new set of financial sanctions against Burma at the UN General Assembly, aimed at pressuring what he called "a 19-year reign of fear."
In Britain, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that the British ambassador in Burma, Mark Canning, believes that "the international community's voice is a factor in the discussions that are going on there."
"It's very important that we continue to maintain this unanimous international call for restraint, and also an international message that there will be accountability in respect of any decisions that are taken, but restraint must be the order of the day," Miliband told reporters.
"In all of our discussions we are emphasizing the need for restraint, and clearly there is a degree of caution being exercised ... in the minds of the regime, but it's clearly important that they continue to understand that restraint must be the order of the day," he added.
Burma's security forces hauled militant Buddhist monks away in trucks Wednesday as they tried to stop anti-government demonstrations in defiance of a ban on assembly.
Following eight days of anti-government marches led by monks in Rangoon and other areas of the country—including the biggest protests in nearly two decades—the junta had banned all public gatherings of more than five people and imposed a nighttime curfew.
The French president announced at the UN General Assembly that he would meet with Burma opposition figures. He did not say specifically who he would speak with. Info Birmanie, a French group supporting the Burmese opposition, said he had invited Sein Win, an exiled opposition leader, to the Elysee Palace.
Frederic Debomy, coordinator of Info Birmanie, said Sein Win's meeting would be the first between a French president and the Southeast Asian country's opposition.
"It was a lack of interest, the (Burmese) opposition was not central enough to their strategy before," he said of French officials. Sarkozy came to office in May, pledging that France would "be at the side of the world's oppressed."
In an interview with French Roman Catholic daily La Croix, Sein Win said he believed the confrontation between the protesters and the authorities would end in spilled blood.
"In the end, it is clear that the army will fire on the crowd," La Croix quoted him as saying.
Asked what he would tell Sarkozy, Win said: "Above all, not to use force" and seek as quickly as possible a Security Council meeting.
As anti-government protests continued in Burma, with security forces firing warning shots and tear gas, France's European affairs minister, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, said the situation there was unacceptable and getting worse. He called the protests "completely legitimate."
"Among Europeans, we must discuss the necessity of reinforcing sanctions against the junta," he told France-Info radio.
The EU had threatened a day earlier to strengthen existing sanctions against the regime if it uses violence to put down the demonstrations. US President George W Bush announced a new set of financial sanctions against Burma at the UN General Assembly, aimed at pressuring what he called "a 19-year reign of fear."
In Britain, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that the British ambassador in Burma, Mark Canning, believes that "the international community's voice is a factor in the discussions that are going on there."
"It's very important that we continue to maintain this unanimous international call for restraint, and also an international message that there will be accountability in respect of any decisions that are taken, but restraint must be the order of the day," Miliband told reporters.
"In all of our discussions we are emphasizing the need for restraint, and clearly there is a degree of caution being exercised ... in the minds of the regime, but it's clearly important that they continue to understand that restraint must be the order of the day," he added.
Burma's security forces hauled militant Buddhist monks away in trucks Wednesday as they tried to stop anti-government demonstrations in defiance of a ban on assembly.
Following eight days of anti-government marches led by monks in Rangoon and other areas of the country—including the biggest protests in nearly two decades—the junta had banned all public gatherings of more than five people and imposed a nighttime curfew.
The French president announced at the UN General Assembly that he would meet with Burma opposition figures. He did not say specifically who he would speak with. Info Birmanie, a French group supporting the Burmese opposition, said he had invited Sein Win, an exiled opposition leader, to the Elysee Palace.
Frederic Debomy, coordinator of Info Birmanie, said Sein Win's meeting would be the first between a French president and the Southeast Asian country's opposition.
"It was a lack of interest, the (Burmese) opposition was not central enough to their strategy before," he said of French officials. Sarkozy came to office in May, pledging that France would "be at the side of the world's oppressed."
In an interview with French Roman Catholic daily La Croix, Sein Win said he believed the confrontation between the protesters and the authorities would end in spilled blood.
"In the end, it is clear that the army will fire on the crowd," La Croix quoted him as saying.
Asked what he would tell Sarkozy, Win said: "Above all, not to use force" and seek as quickly as possible a Security Council meeting.
