"Why didn?t the ethnic groups do more to help the September protesters? Nearly five months after the anti-regime demonstrations that shook Burma late last year, one central question is still waiting for a definitive answer: Couldn?t the ethnic groups have done more to support the protesters in Rangoon and other cities? As monks and lay protesters filled the streets, there was some speculation that the armed forces of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Shan State Army—South (SSA-S) might at the very least launch offensives to pin down Burma Army divisions in Karen and Shan State. At the height of the brutal crackdown on the demonstrations in Rangoon it was reported that government troops had been sent from Karen State to help suppress the protests..."