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Than Shwe blamed for monk killings: Wikileaks
Irrawaddy - February 11, 2011
Wai Moe – According to a recent dispatch by Wikileaks, two cables from the US embassy in Rangoon accuse Burma's junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe of ordering troops to crack down on Buddhist monks during the mass demonstrations in September 2007; and refusing to allow the army to respond to the Cyclone Nargis disaster.
The first cable, dated Nov. 28, 2007, and signed by former US Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa, was published in a leading Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, on Feb 4. In it, Villarosa attributed information to military sources who said: "Both Than Shwe and Maung Aye gave the orders to crackdown on the monks, including shooting them if necessary."
The cable added that junta No.3 ex-Gen Shwe Mann, the new Lower House Speaker, disagreed with the decision, but carried it out, "quietly advising regional commanders to do so with minimal bloodshed."
In September 2007, Than Shwe's military junta faced its strongest challenge in two decades as hundreds of thousands of monks and laypersons took to the streets and marched, chanting for national reconciliation, democracy and economic development. The protests began in Rangoon but quickly spread around the country.
Although Burma's security forces did not respond with violence in the early days of the monk-led demonstrations, they launched a bloody crackdown on Sept. 26, 2007, killed dozens of protesters including monks and a Japanese photojournalist, Kenji Nagai, in Rangoon. The official death toll was put at just more than 30, but human rights groups claimed the actual number of people killed was more than 100.
In the wake of the crackdown, thousands of monks were arrested and many were sentenced to long jail terms. According to a Burmese human rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP), there are currently 255 monks behind bars in Burma.
In another cable sent to Washington on May 8, 2008, titled "Than Shwe is the Problem," Villarosa apparently said that the senior general was responsible for the regime's failure to assist citizens in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, when as many as 134,000 people were killed and some 2 million in the Irrawaddy delta were made homeless or directly affected. She stated that, according to her sources, some generals, particularly Thein Sein and Lt-Gen Myint Swe, the former chief of Bureau of Special Operations- 5, wanted to allow international assistance and humanitarian workers into the region.
"All roads lead to Senior General Than Shwe, who remains isolated and unaware of the scale of the catastrophe that has befallen his country," she quoted a source as saying. The source's name was evidently included in the dispatch, but deleted by Aftenposten when published.
The Rangoon cable said that shortly after Nargis hit Burma, Than Shwe would not even allow a full Burma army response to the disaster. Rangoon "viceroy" Myint Swe reportedly had a four-division strong rescue team in the delta area which was ordered to stand down by Shwe Mann on behalf of Than Shwe and Maung Aye, Villarosa reported.
"According to our contacts, Than Shwe is above all concerned with saving face and holding on to power," she wrote to Washington. "He does not want the Burma army to be seen as needing assistance to deliver relief, and would rather let thousands of Burmese die than accept massive international assistance.
"Than Shwe's isolation and paranoia know no bounds...Other senior officials may passively sit by while thousands needlessly die rather than challenge Than Shwe," the cable said.
The US Charge d'Affaires' dispatch also quoted then Prime Minister Thein Sein as saying he believes that Than Shwe was singularly focused on US sanctions, and was well aware of how difficult they would be to lift.
But Than Shwe did not have any plans to engage in a genuine dialogue with pro-democracy Aung San Suu Kyi, the cable noted, adding that an embassy contact pronounced the dialogue as "dead." The source said "many" regional commanders and low-ranking officers were pleased with the content of Suu Kyi's letter in October which called for a genuine dialogue and national reconciliation.
However, the military officers soon realized the senior general had no intention of negotiating with the opposition. "Than Shwe dispatched his hardline Minister of Culture [Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint who is now Upper House speaker] to demand the ethnic cease-fire groups disavow Aung San Suu Kyi as their representative," the cable said.
Two months after the crackdown on the monk-led demonstrations, the 13th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was held in Singapore. The US cable said at the time Thein Sein told an embassy contact that Than Shwe told him to walk out from the summit if Asean leaders refused to cancel UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari's briefing on Burma.
"Than Shwe had dispatched him [Thein Sein] to Asean with two objectives: to cancel Gambari's briefing during the Summit, and to undermine support for US sanctions on Burma," the cable said.
A US embassy contact whose name was deleted by Aftenposten, reportedly told the embassy that Than Shwe felt the pressure of US sanctions, and recommended that the US exploit the emerging differences within the top levels of the regime by tightening the sanctions against the senior general.
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