Burma's Karen leaders face sweep

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Burma's Karen leaders face sweeping reshuffle   

    By Sutin Wannabovorn 

    KANAELAY, Burma, March 8 (Reuter) - Commanders in one of the world's
longest-running guerrilla insurgencies, reeling from the loss of their
headquarters, are holding emergency talks expected to see a sweeping
leadership reshuffle. 

    Leaders of Burma's Karen National Union (KNU) began the meeting here on
Tuesday, with one of the first topics on the agenda expected to be changes of
all top posts, guerrilla sources said. 

    ``General Bo Mya, his deputies and I myself are most likely to be
dismissed from our positions,'' said one KNU central committee member who
emerged from the meeting room for a break at this camp in southeastern Burma.


    Bo Mya, 67, has been leader of the KNU since 1976. Among other top names
likely to be reshuffled or transferred to ceremonial posts was KNU general
secretary Ba Thin, guerrilla sources said. 

    The man most likely to succeed Bo Mya as KNU leader is Major General Shwe
Hser, commander of the KNU's 6th brigade area, one of the last zones which
the guerrillas still hold after a recent Burmese army offensive. 

    But Shwe Hser, a veteran comrade-in-arms of Bo Mya's, declined to comment
on the expected changes to the old-guard line-up. 

    ``We have been discussing many subjects. Everyone agrees that something
has to change in order to fulfil the KNU aim of bringing autonomy to the
Karen people,'' the soft-spoken Shwe Hser told Reuters. 

    Bo Mya strongly denied there would be any change in his position and
vowed to continue leading the fight against the Burmese military. 

    ``There will be no change in the leading members of the KNU and I will
carry on in my position until we can bring autonomy to the Karen people,'' Bo
Mya, dressed in simple sarong and sports shirt, told Reuters on Tuesday. 

    The talks at this closely-guarded jungle camp near the Thai border are
expected to last until next week. 

    The KNU has been fighting Rangoon for greater autonomy since 1949, one
year after Burma gained indepenendence from Britain. 

    In the early months of their campaign Karen forces, most of whom had
fought in Britain's colonial army, nearly succeeded in seizing Rangoon but
were held off in a northern suburb of the city. 

    Slowly but surely they have been pushed back since. 

    In late January Burmese government forces, guided by former Karen
fighters who mutinied against their leaders, occupied the KNU's headquarters
at Manerplaw, some 200 km (125 miles) north of here. 

    Less than a month later the guerrillas were forced out of Kawmoora, their
last major defensive stronghold on the Thai-Burmese border. 

    The KNU are now holding out in the remote mountains of southeastern
Burma's Karen state and in Burma's southern Tenasserim Division pan-handle. 

    Bo Mya admitted the KNU had made mistakes by focussing efforts on trying
to secure support from foreign countries while neglecting their grassroots
support within the country. 

    Last December the KNU was stunned by a mutiny by some 500 rank-and-file
Buddhist fighters, supported by hundreds of war-weary civilians, who rejected
the Christian-dominated leadership and joined Burmese government forces. 

    Days after the mutiny broke out Burmese forces began their final push
towards Manerplaw. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-03-08 03:05:46 EST
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