Interview - Rebels Say Myanmar Viol

[TheTruth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Interview-Rebels Say Myanmar Violence ''Inevitable''

            Reuters
            03-SEP-98

            MAE SOT, Thailand, Sept 3 (Reuters)- A leader of a group of
            guerrillas fighting the Myanmar government said on Thursday
violence
            was inevitable if the ruling military did not agree to talk
to opposition
            leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

            Mahn Sha, secretary-general of the Karen National Union
(KNU) rebel
            movement, said the two sides in Myanmar appeared to be on a
            collision course. 

            The government was determined not to accede to the demands
of the
            1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, but her pro-democracy
movement
            would not give up. 

            ``As long as the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council)
            refuses to hold direct talks with Aung San Suu Kyi, the
tension will
            escalate and violence is inevitable,'' Manh Sha told Reuters
in an
            interview in the jungle along the Thai-Myanmar border. 

            ``People who live in the rural areas and border towns seem
to get a
            sense of imminent violence,'' he said. 

            Manh Sha predicted the student protests in Yangon would
escalate
            along with support for Suu Kyi's opposition National League
for
            Democracy (NLD). 

            But he said the opposition movement was better organised
this time
            than 10 years ago when Myanmar saw its last significant
            anti-government uprising. 

            Opposition supporters say several thousand people were
killed by the
            army in a nationwide uprising that began on August 8, 1988--
the
            so-called ``Four Eights'' day. 

            Yangon's military government says only few dozen people died
in the
            violence. 

            ``The current movement of the students is totally different
from the Four
            Eights incident because then they had no prominent leader,''
Mahn
            Sha said. 

            ``But now the students have Aung San Suu Kyi as a symbol of
            democracy and their de facto leader who would fight along
side with
            them,'' he said. 

            Formed in 1948, the KNU has been fighting for an autonomous
Karen
            state in eastern Myanmar since 1949. 

            It suffered a major setback in 1994, when a Buddhist faction
staged a
            rank and file mutiny against the Christian-dominated
leadership and
            defected to Myanmar troops. 

            But it has survived and is an enthusiastic supporter of the
Myanmar
            pro-democracy movement and Suu Kyi. 

            Suu Kyi has raised the pressure on the military government
in recent
            weeks, holding protests against restrictions on her
movements and
            promising to convene a ``People's Parliament'' because the
            government refuses to do so. 

            In a statement on Wednesday the government said an NLD
parliament
            would amount to setting up a parallel government, ``which no
            government in the world would accept.'' 

            It said the KNU would act as the armed wing of the NLD,
endangering
            national reconciliation efforts and under such a scenario
the
            government would have no option but to take legal action
against the
            opposition to safeguard national security. 

            The NLD won the country's last polls in May 1990 by a
landslide, but
            the military ignored the results, saying Myanmar was not
ready for
            democracy. 

            Manh Sha said recent tension in Yangon between the
government and
            opposition had pushed up prices throughout Myanmar. 

            ``People have begun to stock up on food and necessary items
and this
            is causing the cost of living to sky rocket,'' he said.