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| Southeast Asia |
| Burma junta is crumbling says ex-Burmese officers |
| 2004-11-12 |
| Former Burmese officers living abroad told DVB that recent power struggle between the intelligence service and the combat troops within Burma's military junta, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) means that the army is starting to crumble despite its claim of unassailable unity with the slogan "we won't split, whoever tries to split us". Major General Kyaw Zaw, one of the founders of the Burmese army with the Thirty Comrades, now living on the Sino-Burmese border said that the split in the army would hurt the country. Retired army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Aye Myint now living in Australia agreed that the Burmese army is crumbling. He compared the power struggle to a fight between a tiger and an elephant in the middle of a paddy-field, and he added that the main victims would be the people of Burma who are in the middle, whatever the outcome. "If the tiger wins, the people will be bitten and if the elephant wins, they will be trodden. The problems for the people (civilians) would only end when both animals die in the fight," Lieutenant Colonel Aye Myint said. But Major General Kyaw Zaw urged patriotic officers within the army to talk to leaders of the main opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD), many of whom were army officers themselves, so that the army won't crumble leaving the country in utter ruin, "for the sake of the people". He also warned the rank and file not to become the victims of the power struggle between the cliques and gangs within the army. |
| Posted by:Steve |