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Myanmar junta claims ethnic support



Myanmar junta claims ethnic support as rebels tell of abuse

Sun 04 Oct 98 - 07:20 GMT 

BANGKOK, Oct 4 (AFP) - Myanmar's junta Sunday claimed to have made peace with
part of the Karen National Union (KNU) ethnic rebel group while KNU
headquarters said its people were being regularly tortured and abused.

The KNU leadership listed several incidents of alleged human rights abuses
against Karen villagers in eastern Myanmar in September as its low-scale
guerrilla war against the junta continued.

The allegations included the torture of civilians, the destruction of rice
paddies, killing of livestock and the razing of village huts by government
soldiers.

But a junta statement received here Sunday said a KNU "peace group" had handed
over its weapons and agreed to support the ruling State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC).

It quoted the group, led by Saw Ferimo and based in Thandaung Township,
central Myanmar, denouncing moves by leading opposition party the National
League for Democracy (NLD) to call a "people's parliament."

The NLD last month claimed the support of ethnic minority groups for its
attempt to convene the parliament which was elected in 1990 but which has not
been allowed to sit.

"We will not at all support that party's declaration," the statement
attributed to Saw Ferimo said.

"Only the incumbent government is striving for national solidarity. It is
found that pleasantness will continue to reign in the future. It will be of
great benefit to the people."

The SPDC has released a number of similar statements from ethnic groups in
recent weeks as its propoganda war against the NLD, led by Nobel Peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, goes into overdrive.

It has also staged a series of public rallies opposing the NLD, the latest of
which saw 21,000 people gather at Khittaya People's Sports Ground in the
central township of Pyay on Saturday, according to the junta.

The KNU is one of the last remaining ethnic independence movements still
waging a guerrilla war against the government. Many others have signed peace
pacts in the past two years.

©AFP 1998

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