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The Nation (10-9-99)
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5>Sporadic protests greet call
for 9-9-99 uprising <br>
</font><font size=3>RANGOON ~ Exiled Burmese in Australia and Thailand
joined forces in protesting against the Burmese junta, while the Burmese
capital faced sporadic 'hit-and-run' protests despite the regime's
deployment of riot police to pre vent potential outbreaks of political
unrest. <br>
According to Burmese dissident groups, a number of 'hit-and-run"
protests were carried out just outside Rangoon. About 30 to 40 people
took part in each of the protests at Dagon, Okkalapa and Pazundung
townships. <br>
The largest demostration was in the city of Meiktila in central Mandalay
Division where about 1,000 people took part in a demonstration. The
number of arrests could not he confirmed. <br>
In Canberra, Australia, about 100 protesters broke into the Burmese
Embassy after smashing fences and overpower ing police. <br>
One police officer was injured when a clod of dirt was thrown into his
eye and another was kicked in the groin. Several police received minor
cuts and bruises in the skirmish. <br>
The protest followed a worldwide call from exiled Burmese dissidents for
an uprising against the military junta in Rangoon on "four nines'
day. <br>
Sept 9, 1999, was chosen for its numerical significance after the first
uprising 11 years ago on Aug 8, 1988 in which thousands of pro-democracy
demonstrators were killed. <br>
In Melbourne, about 90 people, mostly Burmese exiles with red armbands,
chanted and sang on the steps of Victo-ria's state parliament. <br>
In Bangkok, about 400 Burmese dissidents staged noisy protests demanding
a transfer of power to the National League for Democracy (NLD), winner of
the May 1990 general elections which has never been allowed to govern.
<br>
They shouted slogans and burnt the Burmese flag at nine minutes past nine
in the morning. <br>
"We are gathering here because we think not many people can protest
in Rangoon because there are too many troops," said Yai Min Aung,
protesting at the embassy in Bangkok. <br>
On the Thai side of the Moel River about 200 exiles wearing red
pro-demoeracy head bands shouted slogans at stony-faced Burmese soldiers
on the other bank. <br>
Customs and soldiers on the nearby Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge, which
links the towns of Mae Sot and Myawad dy, were conducting thorough body
searches as a security precaution, but trades-men were still crossing the
pan.<br>
Thai military units have stepped up security along the western border
with Burma ,where over 100,000 refugees from Burma live in bamboo-shack
camps close to the frontier. <br>
<br>
In Rangoon, the junta deployed extra police, including riot-control
units, bracing for an uprising called by exiled dissidents. <br>
But there were no signs of the street protests the dissidents had. called
for. Authorities shut the road runnmg past the headquarters of 1991 Nobel
Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD, which had planned to distribute
rice to the poor. <br>
Diplomats estimated that more than 100 people have been arrested in the
past month in Rangoon and in the provinces. An unofficial night curfew
has been imposed in provincial towns and parts of the capital. <br>
"Everyone knows today is a special day. But we weren't expecting
anything to happen because 1 think people are too scared and because this
movement, if it is a movement, is too disorganised because the government
has too many military intelligence operatives out there who can stop
things," said a diplomat in Rangoon. <br>
Burmese generals have vowed to 'annihilate' any agitator and there is
little sign that the population of Burma is ready to risk a repeat of the
bloody clampdown 11 years ago, when an estimated 3,000 were gunned down.
<br>
High schools, which are the potential hotbed of anti-government action,
were closed for the Buddhist sabbath. Most universities have been shut
since the last major student protest in late 1996. <br>
Meanwhile, the Burmese junta has postponed a visit by a senior United
Nations official which was aimed at encouraging political liberalisation
in the country. <br>
The Rangoon-based source said Assistant Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto,
the UN's second-ranking official for political affairs, had been due in
Burma around the middle of this month. <br>
'The mission has been postponed by the government. 1 wouldn't say
cancelled - they want him to come at some later date,' said the source,
who did not want to be identified, adding that no explanation had been
given for the decision. <br>
The Rangoon government did not mmediately respond to a request for
comment on the issue. <br>
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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b><u>Kren Blow Up Gas
Pipeline <br>
<br>
</font></b></u><font size=3>Kren rebels blew up a natural gas pipeline in
southern Burma ,temporarily halting supplies to a number of factories,
official and guerrilla sources said. <br>
The attack near the town of Billin in Mon State occurred on Sunday,
shutting down supplies for about 24 hours to some industries,including a
French built cement factory and a gas- powered turbine. <br>
"We do it ,we are responding with guerrilla operationto our
enemy(The Junta) which has launched an offensive against the Kren People
in that area ,"Kren National Union spokeman Pado Mahn Sha told
<i>AFP </i>by telephone from the Thai-Burma border. <br>
He said more attacks were planned and accused the Burmese troops of
looting ,killing and raping in villages in Kren state <br>
Official sources said the attack had taken place but stressed all damage
had been fixed quickly. <br>
The Kren National Union is the main ethnic minority rebel group yet to
sign a ceasefire with the ruling military in Rangoon.-<i> Agence
FrancePresse<br>
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