[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

AFP News 7/7/98



Myanmar Opposition warns junta of impending disaster 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Serious social unrest set to erupt, it says; but diplomats say claims
exaggerated 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OPPOSITION groups said yesterday that serious social unrest was set to erupt
in Myanmar as the country slid towards "total disaster". 

Myanmar was in "utter chaos" and the situation would only worsen unless the
military rulers accept radical change, Thailand-based National Council of
the Union of Burma (NCUB) said in a letter to junta chief Than Shwe, a copy
of which was received here. 

"The present state of the country is quite disturbing," the umbrella group
of opposition parties added amid separate reports of tension in the country. 

Warning that the situation was likely to "explode soon", the letter added:
"The situations of the country, among the people and in the military
establishment are in utter chaos." 

The group claimed Myanmar had sufficient food stocks for only three months
and that dissent was growing among soldiers, an increasing number of whom
were deserting. 

"There is an impending danger of the country sliding into a serious shortage
of food and general calamity, unparalleled in history. 

"The country is edging toward total disaster. You and your colleagues will
be held responsible if total disaster befalls the country," said the letter,
signed "solemnly and seriously" by NCUB chairman Saw Bo Mya. 

Conditions were worse than those before the Aug 8, 1988, pro-democracy
general strike which prompted Yangon's junta to seize power, it added. 

"The state of internal dissension in the military establishment is about to
get out of control, the desertion of Burma army troops is on the increase,
the problem among the family members of the troops to make ends meet is
becoming more serious, and soon there will be no money for paying the
soldiers." 

Referring to rampant rumours in Yangon that former strongman Ne Win is dead
or very ill, it added that his passing could have consequences for the
junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). 

The junta has denied that Ne Win, who ruled Myanmar with an iron grip from
1962 until he stepped aside during the 1988 unrest, is dead. He is still
widely believed to have great influence on the junta. 

The NCUB demanded that the junta open immediate talks with opposition
groups, including Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National
League for Democracy (NLD) which won 1990 elections by a landslide but has
never been allowed to take power. 

Junta officials could not be immediately reached for comment. 

Foreign diplomats and other sources in Yangon agreed tensions were rising
before the 10th anniversary of the general strike and that there was a food
supply problem but said the NCUB claims were exaggerated. 

One said the NCUB was probably trying to "fuel tensions" on the eve of the
anniversary of a student's death during demonstrations preceding the 1988
strike. -- AFP 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------