[Tlc] T-Karen leader killed

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Leslie A. Woodhouse.
Thanks,
justin

2008-02-14 22:33:34
Leader of Myanmar's ethnic Karen rebel group killed in Thailand

By CHIRAVUT RUNGJAMRATRASAMI,
Associated Press Writer.

The leader of the Karen National Union, one of the biggest
ethnic groups fighting Myanmar's military government, was
killed Thursday in Thailand, police said.

KNU General Secretary Mahn Sha was shot at his home in Mae Sot
by three men who arrived in a pickup truck, Thai police Col.
Pasawat Tangjui said.

He said the killing may have been the result of internal
differences in the rebel group.

The killing came less than a week after Myanmar's military
government announced plans for referendum on a new
constitution this May, followed by a general election in 2010.
The plans have been denounced by the regime's opponents as a
sham meant to perpetuate military rule.

The KNU is one of more than a dozen armed ethnic groups that
for decades have sought greater autonomy from Myanmar's
central government.

Many other groups have signed formal cease-fires with the
ruling junta since 1988, but the Karen never reached a formal
agreement to lay down their arms.

The KNU once had a powerful guerrilla army in Myanmar's
eastern border region, but Myanmar army offensives, coupled
with divisions within the organization, have reduced the
guerrilla group's military presence considerably over the past
decade

Most of the group's senior leadership resides inside Thailand,
while its military bases are mostly located just across the
border in Myanmar. Myanmar's military continues to carry out
sweeping counterinsurgency operations in Karen areas along the
border with Thailand, displacing thousands of civilians every
year, many of whom join about 100,000 of their countrymen in
refugee camps in Thailand.

Mahn Sha was sitting on a balcony on the second floor of his
house when the three men arrived in the truck, police Col.
Pasawat said by telephone from Mae Sot.

"One guy went upstairs, greeted Mahn Sha and then shot him at
close range. Then, another guy came up and shot him again
before they fled in the same vehicle," he said. The driver
remained in the truck, Pasawat said.

"Initial investigations showed that the assailants are also
Karen, and after speaking to some witnesses, we believe it was
an internal problem within the KNU that prompted the
assassination. Still, we have to investigate further to know
for sure," he said.

Mahn Sha, 64, took over leadership of the KNU in 2000 from his
ailing predecessor, Bo Mya, who died in 2006. He had been with
the KNU since 1963, becoming Bo Mya's personal assistant and
joint general secretary in 1995 before taking the top post.

The junta's referendum and election plans marked the first
time Myanmar's military rulers have set dates for stages of
its so-called roadmap to democracy, which it is pursuing
without the free participation of the country's pro-democracy
movement or ethnic minorities.

In an interview just hours before his death, Mahn Sha _ also
known as Mahn Sha Lah Phan _ denounced the plans as a fraud
and said they were the sign of an increasingly desperate regime.

Speaking to Anjali Kwatra, a journalist working for the
London-based humanitarian group Christian Aid, he said that
conflict in Myanmar was only going to come to an end through
dialogue and understanding.

He urged the international community to play a bigger part in
bringing about political reconciliation in Myanmar, suggesting
the United Nations has to use "a large stick and a small
carrot" in pressuring the regime because it so far refuses to
accept a peaceful solution.

Kwatra told The Associated Press that there was no visible
security at Mahn Sha's home, which also served as his office.

------------------------------------------------------------
Leslie A. Woodhouse                    
Doctoral Candidate                       
Department of History             
University of California, Berkeley 

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu