HOSTAGE CRISIS/INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: HOSTAGE CRISIS/INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Myanmar embassy siege a departure for dissidents 
06:08 p.m Oct 01, 1999 Eastern 
By David Brunnstrom 

BANGKOK, Oct 2 (Reuters) - The storming of Myanmar's Bangkok embassy by a
group of heavily armed dissidents amid volleys of gunfire marks a radical
departure from years of largely peaceful but unsuccessful protests by
opponents of military rule. 

Myanmar's mainstream opposition led by 1991 Nobel Peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi has always stressed non-violent resistance to military rule which
began when soldiers killed thousands to crush a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. 

And in the past 10 years, dissidents in exile have also mostly confined
their activities to peaceful protests, including hunger strikes, outside
Myanmar embassies. 

However, in a forewarning last month, about 100 protesters broke into the
Myanmar embassy in Australia after smashing fences and overpowering police.
The protesters were later cleared from the embassy compound but began a
sit-in outside the building. 

That protest followed a worldwide call from exiled dissidents for an new
uprising against military rule on ``Four Nines'' day -- September 9, 1999.
Similar protests were staged in cities around the world, but the uprising
inside Myanmar failed to materialise. 

Friday's embassy attack was carried out by dissidents armed with grenades
and assault rifles. It was the most dramatic involving Myanmar dissidents
since two activists hijacked a Thai airliner in 1990. 

GRENADE MADE OF SOAP 

The hijackers eventually freed all aboard unharmed and it transpired that
the grenades with which they had threatened to blow up the aircraft were
made of soap and wire. 

A year earlier, two other dissidents hijacked a Myanmar domestic airliner to
Thailand with a fake bomb made from a box of soap powder. They too later
released all aboard unharmed. 

Mainstream exile groups have denied involvement in the embassy attack and
the hitherto unknown group, the ``Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors,''
claimed responsibility. 

It demanded Yangon free all political prisoners, start dialogue with Suu
Kyi's opposition and convene a democratic parliament. 

The hardline generals ruling Myanmar, which dissidents still call Burma,
have long resisted such demands from the mainstream opposition, which won
the country's last election in 1990 by a landslide only for the military to
ignore the result. 

The Washington-based Free Burma Coalition, an overseas democracy support
group, reflected the frustration of dissidents after decades of
authoritarian rule. 

``A lack of support from international bodies, and the United Nations in
particular, has contributed to despair among pro-democracy Burmese,'' it
said in a statement. 

``Now the U.N. Security Council must take up the case of Burma's 45 million
people and their struggle for freedom. 

``They overwhelmingly expressed their desire for a democratic government in
1990 elections. The military is negating the expressed will of the people,
just as the Indonesian military did in East Timor.'' 

ATTACK MAY DAMAGE CAUSE 

However, the taking of hostages at gunpoint is more likely to damage
widespread international sympathy for the pro-democracy movement than hasten
the collective action dissidents yearn for. 

On Friday, the United States, which has been a staunch supporter of the
democracy movement, slammed the embassy attack. 

``We strongly condemn this terrorist attack on a diplomatic establishment
and the taking of hostages, regardless of the perpetrators' motives or
demands,'' said State Department spokesman James Rubin. ``There is simply no
justification for terrorism under any circumstances.'' 

The image of the democracy movement would be shattered if the embassy
attackers were to carry out a threat to start shooting hostages from 8 a.m.
(0100 GMT) Saturday. 

Thai authorities have clung to their hope that their famous powers of
compromise and persuasion will bring the current standoff to a peaceful
conclusion. 

The hostage-takers said on Friday evening that so far they had not killed
anyone and wanted to talk to Thai authorities. 

But they also warned: ``We are ready to die in action unless we get our
demands.''