BANGKOK - U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari told Burma on Monday to stop arresting dissidents and Thailand proposed a regional forum including China and India to nudge the reclusive military junta towards democratic reform.
However, as the region began a new diplomatic approach beyond the failed strategies of sanctions or "constructive engagement", the former Burma's ruling generals remained defiant, vowing to plough on with their own much-criticised "roadmap to democracy".
"We will go ahead. We will not deviate from our path," the official New Light of Burma said in a commentary on the seven-point masterplan, unveiled in 2003, to chart a course beyond the military rule of the last 45 years.
"Those who sincerely want to hold hands with us are welcome," the newspaper continued in uncompromising tone. "We will get rid of the barriers and obstacles on the way."
Gambari, in Bangkok at the start of a regional tour to drum up support for a coordinated diplomatic front, said actions spoke louder than words -- and that the continued arrests and intimidation of activists were "extremely disturbing".
"These actions must stop at once," he told reporters.
After meeting Gambari, Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont proposed a U.N.-backed regional forum on Burma, bringing together Southeast Asia plus India and China.
The forum would appear to echo the six-party talks format set up to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions.
After Thailand, Gambari heads for Malaysia, Indonesia, India and China -- all of whom have trading ties with Burma and remain opposed to sanctions, a tactic preferred by the West.
EU SANCTIONS
He will also travel to Tokyo, where emotions are still high at the shooting of a Japanese journalist, one of at least 10 people killed in Yangon when soldiers were sent in to crush the biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years.
