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Don't harm civilians, rebels told
South China Morning Post
Wednesday September 10 1997
The Mekong Region
Don't harm civilians, rebels told
BURMA by William Barnes in Bangkok
The leader of a rebel war being fought across the vast Shan state has told
supporters not to take out their bitterness against the ruling military on
ethnic Burmese.
The warning comes two months after about 25 Burmese civilians were dragged
from two ordinary passenger buses, herded away and shot.
No one has owned up to the attack, which smacks of retaliation for brutal
attempts to crush independence fighters by the State Law and Order Restoration
Council.
"Wherever we go, it is imperative that we refrain from any act of injustice
towards the people and abstain from any form of racial discrimination," said
Yord Serk, in recent orders to his Shan United Revolutionary Army.
"When we meet good and just civilian Burmese nationals, we should tell them
that we are not brutal soldiers like the junta troops and that it would be
advisable for them to return to Burma proper for their own safety."
Shan human rights monitors have reported that the bus massacre whipped the
junta's Army into an even uglier mood than usual. They are said to have killed
some 400 people over the following month alone.
These figures are impossible to verify. But even before the bus incident, Shan
refugees fleeing across the border into Thailand routinely told of whole
villages being uprooted at a few hours' notice to try to break support for the
insurgents.
If any villagers returned to pick fruit or harvest rice to ward off starvation
on their new junta-approved but foodless land, they were shot on sight.
The refugees have also repeatedly complained that the Burmese Army has been
selling off their land to Chinese and Burmese newcomers.
Even in his short public warning, Yord Serk painted a dismal picture of life
in the Shan state.
"The situation has become chaotic and many people are on the verge of
starvation, robbers are rampant and there are several armed groups, some with
no identity, that roam the highways."
The Shan resistance leader added: "In the end, justice will certainly
prevail."
A Rangoon-based diplomat argued that the depth of the bitterness in this
little-known war showed how fragile was the "peace" claimed by the junta.
"They use raw military muscle to keep the minorities under control where they
can," the diplomat said.
"But how can there ever be real peace without a political settlement that even
begins to address the minorities' concerns?"