Khun Sa Paralyzed - Confirmed:

[shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

29 May 1999 

Khun Sa Paralyzed - Confirmed 

Latest eye-witness report confirms that Khun Sa has been paralyzed for some
months, as was reported earlier by S.H.A.N. and other agencies. 

At the Armed Force Guesthouse at 08:40 - 10:00 on 13 May, ex-MTA officers who
were summoned there to meet a "state minister" suddenly found themselves faced
by their ex-boss, Khun Sa a.k.a. Chang Chifu, whose right arm and leg could
barely move. Two MI - officers had to assist him both in getting out and
getting in his Mitsubishi Pajero. He also had difficulty speaking. 

After 3 years with the SPDC, he seemed to have regretted his fateful decision
in 1995 to surrender. He kept saying "I want to die, the quicker the
better" to
his speechless audience, among whom were Khwan Mong, his ex-Chief Political
Officer, Ltc. Mon (currently militia chief), Ltc. Ma Kuowen (currently militia
chief also), Ltc. Aung Htun and Ltc. Mahaja. Apart from Khwan Mong, scarcely
anybody spoke to him. 

"I told Gen Khin Nyunt that as I was getting old and becoming a burden, he
should consider turning me over to the Americans. But he didn't agree. He said
it's a matter of national prestige and he couldn't do it if he wanted to. 

Khun Sa surrendered to Rangoon forces on 7 January 1996, 6- months after the 6
June 1995 mutiny which broke the backbone of his once "mighty" Mong Tai Army.
The fighters who refused to go along with him regrouped as the Shan States
Army
under the leadership of Yawdserk, who pledged to cooperate with the
international community to get rid of the drug scourge. 

Shans had joined Burma in 1947 under the treaty called Panglong Agreement
which
guaranteed Full Autonomy, Human Rights and Democracy for them. They have been
fighting against successive Rangoon governments since the terms of agreement
were violated. Their main party is the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy
that won the General Elections in the Shan State in 1990 and their central
armed movement is the Shan States Army. 

/// END \\\ 

For further information, please contact S.H.A.N. at: 
Shan Herald Agency for News. 
P.O. Box. 15 
Nonghoi P.O., 50007 
Chiangmai 
Thailand 
Ph/Fax: (053) 807 121
e-mail: <shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>