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"400 SHANS REPORTEDLY POISONED BY B



Subject: "400 SHANS REPORTEDLY POISONED BY BURMESE MILITARY"


"400 SHANS REPORTEDLY POISONED BY BURMESE MILITARY"

(Kyodo Report, published in  ASAHI SHIMBUN and 
RYUKYU SHIMPO, Okinawa, in Japanese, Feb.
24, 1999; unofficial translation follows)

     (Hongkong, Feb. 23) According to the Hongkong newspaper SOUTH CHINA
MORNING POST, the Burmese/Myanmar military put the carcasses of rats
which had been poisoned in a river near a settlement where people of the
Shan ethnic minority had been detained. Some 400 Shans using the water
of the river died from poisoning.
     The incident was reported by the human rights group, the Shan Human
Rights Foundation.
     According to the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, soldiers in April and
June of last year also placed the carcasses of poisoned rats in rivers
near Shan detention centers. More than 100,000 people suspected of
supporting Shan guerrillas seeking autonomy from the central government
have been forcibly relocated to these camps. Children playing in the
rivers had fallen ill.
     People exposed to the poisoned river water developed fevers,
vomiting, and then weakened and died. After death, their lips and hands
would turn black, a symptom of this kind of poisoning.
     According to a spokesman for the Shan Human Rights Foundation,
"unbelievable as it is, this is hard evidence of the military regime's
cold-blooded crimes [genocide?] against ethnic minorities."

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