Burma: Junta drafting new constitution

Myanmar's military junta claimed Friday it was taking another step on its “road map“ to democracy by drafting a new charter, and accused the United States of training monks who led protests last month.

The junta named 54 people to a committee tasked with writing a new constitution, following more than a decade of talks on the guidelines for the charter, the official New Light of Myanmar paper said.

The announcement came as the regime was under global pressure over its bloody crackdown on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks in late September, when at least 13 people were killed and 3,000 detained, reported AFP.

Anti-junta rallies began in August following a massive hike in fuel prices and snowballed into the biggest challenge to the iron-fisted regime in nearly two decades.

In the wake of the violence, the United States and the European Union tightened sanctions on the junta while the United Nations is pressuring the regime to open talks with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari is traveling around Asia to build regional pressure on the junta.
He called Thursday for a carrot-and-stick approach, saying that in addition to tough action the regime should be offered incentives to reform.

But the state newspaper Friday lashed out at the United States, accusing Washington of training monks and forcing them to stage the protests against the government.

“The embassy of a big power secretly gave training courses to young monks and novices,“ the paper said.