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GUEST: Edith Mirante, Director of Project Maje and author of “Down the Rat Hole: Adventures Underground on Burma’s Frontier.”

Burma’s ruling military junta is currently launching its biggest offensive against the Karen National Union resistance group since 1997. More than 16,000 refugees have been forced from their homes as military operations continue against the KNU in Eastern Burma. As the ethnic Karens face repression, more than 50 key members of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, The National League of Democracy, were forced to resign. Suu Kyi’s sixteen year house arrest detention is set to expire this Saturday but the regime is expected to extend her sentence. International pressure against the Burmese junta is now mounting. In fact, last week, President Bush renewed economic sanctions on Burma. Recently, UN official Ibrahim Gambari met with Suu Kyi and junta officials. As the Under Secretary for General Political Affairs, Gambari visited Burma to pressure the regime to restore democracy and cease human rights violations.

For more information, visit www.uscampaignforburma.org.