"very good planning"????

[dawnstar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

If they did, then why did they miss the ambassador?


TIN KYI wrote:
> 
> The Nation - Oct 7, 1999.
> Karen leader denies any links to raid on embassy
> 
> AN exiled Karen leader yesterday denied that his organisation was involved
> in the armed raid on the Burmese Embassy last Friday.
> 
> Mahn Robert Ba Zan, president of the Karen Solidarity Organisation (KSO),
> told The Nation in an interview that he did not know the five Burmese
> assailants whose identity the Thai authorities are still trying to
> establish.
> 
> The assailants were flown to southern Burma opposite Thailands Suan Phung
> district in western Ratchaburi province in a deal with the Thai government
> which secured the release of 89 hostages.
> 
> Mahn Robert Ba Zan, 58, said the KSO was a non-violent political
> organisation which had no territorial control in Kamaplaw area where the
> Burmese attackers were believed to have been dropped off, or anywhere else
> along the Thai-Burmese frontier.
> 
> Moreover, the KSO had been forbidden by the Karen National Union (KNU) to
> mobilise mass political support in the frontier area it controlled, he
> added.
> 
> A former military trainer and frontier commander, Mahn Robert Ba Zan quit
> the Karen National Union after a clash with its leadership and formed the
> KSO on Aug 31, 1997.
> 
> ''I don't know these five students, but they may know me because I used to
> train students when they fled to the border after the 1988 popular uprising
> in Burma'' he said.
> 
> Mahn Robert Ba Zan, who is the son of late Karen revolutionary movement
> lader Mahn Ba Zan, said he was shocked when he heard of the attack on the
> embassy. He added that he was also surprised by the ''small number'' of
> people involved in the raid.
> 
> He believed the seizure of hostages was ''well planned'', saying that the
> attackers appeared to have achieved their objectives by winning the sympathy
> of both the Thai and foreign hostages and publicising their political
> demands.
> 
> ''If they did have only five people, it means that they must have had very
> good planning,'' he said.
> 
> He said he was also ''very shocked'' that Burmese Embassy officials and
> intelligence officers, who were well trained and experienced in intelligence
> gathering and security, had completely failed to foil the raid, especially
> as it came at a time when there were calls for demonstrations and protests
> against the Burmese regime in and outside the country.
> 
> ''How could the embassy rely only on the Thai guards to protect their
> security?'' he asked.
> 
> Mahn Robert Ba Zan said he could not confirm that the assailants were flown
> to Kamaplaw, which is under the control of the Christian-dominated God Army.
> The God Army, believed to have about 300 men under arms, was formed by
> former KNU troops and Karen villagers after the fall of the KNU's 4th
> Brigade headquarters to the Burmese Army in 1997.
> 
> Other rebel groups said they were afraid that the armed raid on the embassy
> could have a detrimental effect on their activities.
> 
> A number of the dissident groups are armed. Others, like the KSO, have
> employed political and diplomatic means to inform the outside world about
> the atrocities committed by the military government in Rangoon.
> 
> The KNU is the biggest armed ethnic group fighting the military government
> of Burma. The organisation was formed 50 years ago shortly after Burma
> gained independence from Britain. Its current leader is Gen Bo Mya.
> 
> BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK
> 
> The Nation