Burmese pro-democracy activists vowed to fight “to the death” to overthrow the military junta yesterday, even as the generals continued their crackdown against the protesters.

Two activists who spoke to The Times from their hideout in Burma’s southern Mon state called on the international community to apply greater pressure to the military Government of General Than Shwe to release their leaders, who were snatched from their homes during the demonstrations.

They denounced the United Nations, and its special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, for cosying up to the junta. “We hoped for so much and what we feel is that he achieved nothing,” said a female activist, who identified herself by the name Khaind.

“He should have visited the places of the demonstrations — like Pakkoku [where Burmese monks first demonstrated] and the Shwedagon Pagoda. He should have visited Insein Prison [in Rangoon], then he would have seen the truth.

“He should have demanded that our leaders, the political prisoners, were released. We’ve made a lot of sacrifices and many people have been killed and it’s not right for him to come and see just what the junta wants him to see.”

Ms Khaind slipped past police checkpoints to escape from Rangoon last Saturday, accompanied by Myint Htoo Aung and another male colleague, all veterans of the so-called 1988 Generation, which first rallied against the junta 20 years ago.

They claimed that they were involved in organising demonstrations last Thursday close to Rangoon’s Sule Pagoda, where unarmed protesters were fired on with smoke bombs, rubber bullets and live rounds. A Japanese photographer was shot dead during the protest.

Both Mr Myint Htoo Aung and Ms Khaind insisted that the number of demonstrators killed was far higher than the figure of 13 admitted to by the ruling junta.

Yesterday, Mr Gambari told the Security Council that he had received “continuing and disturbing reports of abuses . . . including raids on private homes, beatings, arbitrary arrests and disappearances” since he returned from his four-day trip to Burma.

Nevertheless, he spoke of his high expectations of a conditional offer from General Than Shwe to meet the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. “The sooner such a meeting can take place, the better,” he said, “as it is a first and necessary step to overcome the high level of mistrust between them.”

“I think Madame Aung San Suu Kyi will consider these things in a positive light,” Nyan Win, a spokesman for her political party, the National League for Democracy, told Agence France Presse. “It’s up to Madame Aung San Suu Kyi to decide.”

The activists interviewed by The Times denounced the proposal as a ploy intended to buy time and damp down international pressure. “This is just a trick to prolong the situation, so the world will calm down,” Ms Khaind, her voice trembling with emotion, said. “Every day in the news new things come along. One day there’s a bomb in Iraq, then there’s an airplane crash. They’re just making time so that people’s attention is diverted. If they’re going to talk, why not talk now? If they’re going to release prisoners, do it now? There is no reason to delay.”

In a country that has spies everywhere and where many telephones are assumed to be tapped, the activists were taking a risk in contacting The Times. Their decisions to do so reflects frustration and despair on the part of the 88 Generation — named after the events of 1988 when a popular rising against the junta was suppressed with the loss of as many as 3,000 lives.

After a sudden rise in the price of fuel, transport and household goods in August, the 88 Generation mounted small demonstrations that were brutally put down and most of their leaders were arrested. But the protests kindled far bigger demonstrations, first by the monks and then by tens of thousands of ordinary Burmese.

“They’ve killed many people, many of my friends, and the figures they put out are just a lie. Our networks are not working any more,” Ms Khaind said.

“They’ve forced us into hiding for now, but when the time comes we will do this again, and again, until they have gone. We’ve been fighting for democracy for 20 years. Maybe it will come tomorrow, maybe in five years, maybe in another 20 years.

“We need a lot of help from the international community but we won’t give up. We will fight until we die, or until they are dead.”

Justifying sanctions

US The State Peace and Development Council (Burmese junta) continues egregious human rights violations against Burmese citizens, uses rape as a weapon of intimidation against women, and conscripts childsoldiers.

EU In view of the failure of the military authorities to enter into substantive discussions with the democratic movement, the continuing detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and other members of the National League for Democracy and the continuing serious violations of human rights, the restrictive measures against the military regime in Burma should be maintained.

Source: EU, US State Department (edited)

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