AFP : Hostage takers vow to further

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Subject: AFP : Hostage takers vow to further fight against SPDC

Hostage takers vow to further fight against Myanmar junta
   
   BANGKOK, Nov 11 (AFP) - The five gunmen who stormed the Myanmar embassy 
here last month on Thursday defiantly vowed to press on with their militant 
fight against the junta in Yangon.
   The pro-democracy gunmen, not seen since their dramatic escape into the 
jungles of eastern Myanmar aboard a helicopter supplied by the Thai 
government, denied reports they were about to surrender.
   "We, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW), who claimed 
responsibility for the 24-hour embassy hostage drama, do not have a plan to 
surrender to the Thai government," they said in a statement received by AFP 
late Thursday.
   "We decided to fight against the military dictatorship and to continue our 
revolution until we are dead.
   "We are ready to die in action," the hand-written statement said.
   The gunmen took the embassy on October 1, holding 38 people hostage for 
more than 24 hours and initially demanding the ruling military in Myanmar
open 
talks with the democratic opposition led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
   The siege ended after the Thai government supplied a helicopter and a 
substitute hostage in the form of Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand 
Paribatra to take them to the border.
   Media reports here last week said the gunmen had written to the government 
requesting permission to go to a third country if they surrender to Thai 
authorities.
   But Thai government spokesman Akapol Sorasuchart has said the reports were 
untrue and even if they were Thailand would not cooperate.
   "It is impossible (for them to seek refuge abroad) because they violated 
Thai law and must face legal action in Thailand," Akapol said.
   Myanmar has demanded that Thailand arrest the students, whom it views as 
terrorists. The incident has soured relations between the two neighbours.
   A senior member of VBSW told AFP last month the five gunmen were moving 
between villages on the Myanmar side of the countries' mutual border border.
   He said the group felt it had achieved its objectives in storming the 
embassy.
   Exiles said the VBSW was formed shortly before the planned 9/9/99
uprising, 
or "Four Nines Movement," last month in which exiled dissidents encouraged 
those inside Myanmar to replicate a mass uprising on August 8, 1988, or
8/8/88.


Thin Myat Thu (Thida)                                  Tel: + 47 22 414143
WEB Editor                                             Fax: + 47 22 413929
Democratic Voice of Burma                     http://www.communique.no/dvb/