|
Guerrilla
Attack Could Hurt Myanmar Dissidents
11:35 a.m. Jan 24, 2000 Eastern By David Brunnstrom BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) - The storming of a Thai provincial hospital Monday by young ``God's Army'' guerrilla opponents of Myanmar's military government is the second such attack in less than four months. It follows a 25-hour seizure of the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok last October, in which 89 hostages were taken but freed unharmed when Thailand allowed the five attackers safe passage to the Myanmar border. That group, the ``Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors,'' promptly fled to the Kamaplaw base of ``God's Army,'' a breakaway faction of the Karen National Union guerrillas. ``God's Army'' is about 100 strong and consists of radical Karen fighters, Myanmar student dissidents and child fighters. It is led by 12-year-old twin boys Luther and Johnny Htoo. Monday, about 10 of its fighters armed with automatic weapons seized the 770-bed Ratchaburi provincial hospital about 75 miles west of Bangkok and as many as 700 hostages. Mainstream opponents of Myanmar's ruling generals have condemned both attacks as damaging to their pro-democracy cause and likely to prompt a further backlash by the authorities on the several thousand Myanmar dissidents living in Thailand. After the embassy attack, Thailand ordered Myanmar dissidents to register for resettlement in other countries and to move to join about 1,000 at a holding center at Maneeloy in Ratchaburi province not far from the besieged hospital. But progress in resettlement has been slow. The U.N. refugee agency said last week just 139 had been resettled since October. Myanmar's mainstream opposition led by 1991 Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has always urged dissidents to follow a non-violent resistance to military rule. MOST DISSIDENT CAMPAIGNS PEACEFUL And most dissidents in Thailand have confined themselves to peaceful campaigning for democracy since fleeing Myanmar when the military killed thousands to crush a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. But the recent attacks are not without precedent. In October 1990, two Myanmar student activists hijacked a Thai airliner and forced it to fly to India. They eventually freed all aboard unharmed and it transpired that grenades they threatened to blow up the aircraft with were made of soap. 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. The embassy attackers, who were armed with real grenades and bullets, demanded Yangon free all political prisoners, start dialogue with Suu Kyi and convene a democratic parliament, moves the hard-line generals have long resisted. In taking over the hospital the ``God's Army'' fighters have confined themselves to military-related demands. They called on Thailand to stop shelling their base in support of Myanmar government attacks and on doctors and nurses to treat wounded fighters. They also demanded to be allowed to cross the border to seek refuge and an investigation of the shelling. They warned they would harm hostages if moves were made to end the siege by force. The attack is certain to make life more difficult for peaceful dissidents in Thailand, a prospect they view with alarm. As Thai officials vowed Monday to review the status of the thousands of Myanmar exiles, mainstream dissidents quickly condemned the attack as ``terrorism'' by renegades. ``We are very sad about this,'' said Maung Maung Aye, general secretary of the National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella group of dissidents and guerrillas based on the border. ``We were not involved. This is a terrorist action that violates Thai sovereignty. We are very worried for the hostages.'' |