170913_Due to effective international crisis of human rights in present day Burma_Insert from the latent Archives frontier and Chronicles of Events between 1987-1992
let’s retrace a few steps in the time-line of events from 1991
May 4 A drug-burning Show is held at Möng La near the Chinese Border in Eastern Shan State. It is attended by SLORC officials, DEA agents, UN personnel and the most prominent drug trafficker in eastern Burma, Lin Ming Xian. A supposed heroin refinery is also burnt.
SLORC: (State Law and Order Restoration Council: the name of the junta which overthrew the democratically elected government of Burma (Myanmar) in 1988).
Early May: 11 Chinese-made F7 jet fighters are delivered to Burma as part of a 1 Billion US$ arms deal between Beijing and Rangoon which also includes naval patrol boats, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, light arms, anti-aircraft guns and missiles, ammunition and other military equipment.
23 April: The NLD remaining in Rangoon comes under pressure from the SLORC to expel Aung San Suu Kyi from the party. Ethnic Palaung rebels in Northern Shan State make peace with the SLORC.
14 April: More than 300 NLD activists, including more than 20 elected MP’s, have fled to Burma’s border areas, rebel sources say. #13a116
MP: Judging from it’s context, here the abbreviation or acronym of MP most probably stands for Members of Parliament and not like more contemporary sources might guess „Media Player“, although that also holds promising aspects.
NLD: National League for Democracy, Main Opposition Party in 1990 Burmese Elections, which Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi helped co-founding (not to be confused with the word confounding).
?? April: Thousands of Muslim refugees (Rohingyas) from Arkan State begin to arrive in Bangladesh following a cyclone in the area and increased militarisation of the border areas in North-Western Arakan.
?? March: Ethnic Pa-O rebels in central Shan State make peace with the SLORC.
11 February Another political party, the Democratic Young Front of Burma, is banned!
2 February: the US State Departement states in its annual human rights report, that Burma and North Korea are the world’s most brutal regimes.
1 February: The Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League, a political party led by Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein, is banned.
28 January: Czechoslovak president of the time Vaclav Havel, nominates Aung San Suu Kyi for the Nobel Peace Prize. The SLORC holds another drug-burning ceremony in Möng Ko, north-eastern Shan State. It is attended by SLORC, officials, Rangoon-based diplomats, DEA agents, a few foreign pressmen and the most prominent drug traffickers in the region: Lo Hsing-han, Pheung Kyashin und Pheung Kya-fu.
In 1997 according to Internet Resources says, „the SLORC was reconstituted as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) — benign in name only — in 1997.“
According to widely publicized Sources over the Net it is said that SLORC in working toward opium poppy eradication in Burma, was a sought after Ally of US Intelligence and Secret Service, including CIA and DEA and that „Without question, the SLORC engaged in human rights violations, including murder, the recruitment of child soldiers, forced labor, and political imprisonments.“
A few historical Facts: Burma (Myanmar) is a former British Colony that became an independent republic on 4th January 1948. The Independence was superseded almost immediately with a bloody civil war that broke out between the central government and dispersed groups of rebel armies that where countless in numbers. Although Burma was democratic at independence, the civil war made foremost the army a powerful political force and eventually in March 1962, it seized power under the leadership of General Ne Win, ending effectively political freedoms and wrecking havoc with the economy. In 1987, the people began to rise up against Ne Win’s tight and martial rule of leadership.
On August 10 1987 General Ne Win admits in Radio and TV speech, that mistakes have been made during his 25 years in power.
On September 1 The Governement de-controls domestic trade in rice, maize, pulses and beans, ending restrictions that had been in force since 1966.
On September 5 In an order signed by Sein Lwin* the Secretary of State Council, the 25, 35 and 75 (Kyats) banknotes are demonetised without compensation, wiping out 80% of the country’s money in circulation.
500-1000 Students in Rangoon go on a rampage.
On September 6 (almost 30 years ago to date) The Government closes down all universities and colleges. Students in Rangoon who come from upcountry are bused back to their homes.
In 1988 Student protest abound in the whole country with Thousands of students marching down to Sule Pagoda in central Rangoon on 18 March. Army Units of Light Infantry Division are deployed and thousands of protesters are arrested. Scores of people are killed by the army. The Day became known as „The Bloody Friday“ and Sein Lwin, the Secretary of State Council* and commander of Lon Htein, becomes known as the „Butcher of Rangoon“. Schools and Universities are once again closed down.
LON HTEIN: Burmese Police Force Units
On April 11 Commander in Chief General Ne Win leaves for Switzerland (!) and parts of Europe.
9 May The government appointed Enquiry Commission states that three students were killed during the March riots, 625 arrested with 141 still in custody.
10 May Amnesty International publishes a 71-page report saying that the Burmese Army is responsible for summary executions, torture and rape in frontier areas, and for forcing villagers to act as porters and walk ahead of troops as human mine detectors during campaigns against ethnic insurgents.
1992 Headlines:
January: Heavy Fighting breaks out between Karen rebels and governement forces along the Thai-Burma border. The government forces begin a push to capture the Karen rebel headquarters of Manerplaw which is also the for the NCGUB and other dissidents.
NCGUB: National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma was an administration claimed to be the government in exile of Burma. Source Wikipedia
25 February: A helicopter crashes into two jet fighters, ready to take off from Hmawbi Air Base north of Rangoon to bomb Karen rebel camps along the Thai border. Seven people die in the accident. Fighting continues along the border as the SLORC throws hundreds of ill-trained teenagers into the battle for Manerplaw.
The Number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh reaches 100’000.
4 March The United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva condems the SLORC for wide spread human rights abuses. It also decides to nominate a special rapporteur to investigate the situation in Burma.
Early April 1992: UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Eliasson, visits Burma and Bangladesh in an attempt to find a solution to the Rohingya refugee crisis. He tours to Arakan border areas in Burma as well as the refugee camps in Bangladesh.
27 April 1992: Major-General Maung Hla, overall commander of the offensive against the Karens, announces that he has suspended operations along the Thai border. Some students who were arrested with Aung San Suu Kyi in July 1990 are released from Jail. in Dhaka, the Burmese and Bangladesh foreign ministers agree to repatriate the Rohingya refugees to Burma.
30 June 1992: More political prisoners are released. The number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh has risen to 280’000 despite the repatriation accord in April of ’92.
Sources: du Heft Nr. 11, November 1992.
Insert: Burma 1987-92 A Chronology of Events by Bertil Lintner.
