Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar soldiers may have killed as many as 110 people during a crackdown on anti-government protests last month, said a United Nations official tasked with probing alleged human rights abuses by the military regime. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who will travel to the Southeast Asian nation next month, said he had verified ``allegations of the use of excessive force by the security forces, including live ammunitions, rubber bullets, tear gas, bamboo and wood sticks, rubber batons and catapults.'' Thirty to 40 monks and 50 to 70 civilians may have been killed in the crackdown, Pinheiro, who is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special rapporteur on human rights in the country formerly known as Burma, said in New York yesterday.
General Than Shwe's regime has faced global condemnation since it deployed soldiers Sept. 26 to crush the biggest anti- junta protests in almost 20 years. UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari is trying to rally neighboring countries to pressure the regime to take steps toward democracy. He is holding a second day of talks today with officials in China, Myanmar's closest ally. Reports continue of deaths in custody, torture, disappearances, ill-treatment and lack of access to food, water and medical treatment for those in detention, Pinheiro told a General Assembly committee, according to a statement on the UN's Web site.
The army and militia are reportedly ``going home by home searching for people and detaining participants in the demonstrations,'' Pinheiro said. ``Relatives of people in hiding have reportedly been taken hostage as a way of pressure.'' A ``situation of fear prevails,'' he added. The junta must unconditionally release all detainees, grant amnesty to those who have been sentenced, reveal the whereabouts of missing people and conduct an independent investigation into the killings, Pinheiro said in a statement to the committee. He also demanded the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 years in custody since the junta rejected the results of parliamentary elections won by her National League for Democracy in 1990. Protesters staged rallies yesterday in cities around the world, including London, Paris, Bangkok and Washington, demanding Suu Kyi's release.
China is one of Myanmar's biggest trading partners. As a permanent, veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, its support is essential for any international effort to end the political crisis in Myanmar. Gambari will meet Tang Jiaxuan, China's highest-ranking foreign policy official, and Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi today. ``This is a very important stop on this mission,'' Gambari told reporters yesterday in Beijing.
He will travel next to Japan before returning to New York on Oct. 27 to brief Ban on his trip, which included visits to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and India. Gambari, who held talks with junta leaders earlier this month, is scheduled to return to Myanmar in the first week of November, the UN says.
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