NEWS - Myanmar Rebel Leader Vows To

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Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Rebel Leader Vows To Fight

Friday December 10 2:17 AM ET 

 Myanmar Rebel Leader Vows To Fight

 KA MAR PA LAW, Myanmar (AP) - Hiding at a jungle base, the leader of a
small band of
                 student rebels rejected the nonviolent methods of
Myanmar's main opposition party and said
                 his attack on Myanmar's embassy in Thailand was just
the beginning.

                 The man in his 30s, known only as Johnny, said his
Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors
                 had been prepared to kill Ambassador Hla Maung - who
had left the embassy just before
 the seizure two months ago.

 ``I have to say the ambassador is very lucky,'' said Johnny, handing
out one of Hla Maung's stolen business
 cards. ``I saw his car leave the embassy about five minutes before we
entered, but it was too late to call off the
 operation.''

 Johnny surfaced at the border base of a small, mystical ethnic Karen
guerrilla band known as God's Army, led by
 twin 12-year-old boys.

 The Associated Press visited God's Army - which has almost never been
accessible to journalists - this week
 and met three of the student militants. Johnny and his comrades are on
the run from Thai police, who have
 issued warrants for their arrest and the Myanmar army, whose control
over the rebel-ridden border is uneven,
 wants to capture them.

 In a sign of the frustration dogging Myanmar's opposition after decades
of harsh military rule, Johnny denounced
 Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the harassed legal opposition and winner of
the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, for her
 nonviolent promotion of democracy.

 ``I don't like Suu Kyi because I don't think she really loves the
country,'' Johnny remarked. ``She doesn't have the
 courage to run the country.''

 ``I'll be against her if she's in the government,'' Johnny said.

 Suu Kyi and her party criticized the embassy takeover a few days after
it happened, expressing sympathy but
 declaring that her movement wanted to ``show that the human spirit can
prevail over the might of arms and bring
 about the change that we want.''

 Johnny and four other exiled students stormed the embassy Oct. 1,
demanding a restoration of democracy in
 Myanmar and holding dozens of diplomats and foreigners hostage at
gunpoint for 26 hours until the captors
 were given safe passage to the border.

 The incident rocked Thailand's relations with Myanmar, particularly
because Thai officials who negotiated a
 bloodless end to the siege called the hostage-takers freedom-fighters.

 Myanmar retaliated by closing the border. Thailand then expelled about
10,000 illegal Myanmarese workers and
 has moved to send exiled student dissidents who have been based in
Thailand to third countries.

 Johnny, whose real name is a matter of intense speculation, said the
embassy takeover was meant to attract
 attention so the world would put pressure on Myanmar's military regime,
widely criticized for suppressing human
 rights and democracy.

 ``I just wanted to show the Burmese what we can do,'' Johnny said.
``And I think we have achieved that.''

 Johnny's one regret was that Thailand toughened conditions for Myanmar
refugees after the takeover. He
 apologized to Thailand for having to carry out the action on its soil.

 Johnny expressed enthusiasm for God's Army, which gave them shelter
when more established rebel groups
 were apparently unwilling. Still, he promised that the Vigorous Burmese
Student Warriors would not fade away.

 ``We won't be here too long,'' he said. ``There's still many more
things to do. But can't say what they will be. It
 will be a fight to get rid of the Burmese government.''