Psyche, Science, and Society

Troops mutinying in Burma?

September 29th, 2007

I have no idea of the veracity, but there are reports now that troops are mutinying in Burma. That would be wonderful news:

Rangoon: ‘army mutiny’ reported

Troops refuse to fire on crowds

Reports from Rangoon suggest soldiers are mutinying. It is unclear the numbers involved. Reports cite heavy shooting in the former Burmese capital.

The organisation Helfen ohne Grenzen (Help without Frontiers) is reporting that “Soldiers from the 66th LID (Light Infantry Divison) have turned their weapons against other government troops and possibly police in North Okkalappa township in Rangoon and are defending the protesters. At present unsure how many soldiers involved.”

Soldiers in Mandalay, where unrest has spread to as we reported this morning, are also reported to have refused orders to act against protesters.

Some reports claim that many soldiers remained in their barracks. More recent reports now maintain that soldiers from the 99th LID now being sent there to confront them.

Growing numbers of protestors are gathering in Rangoon, with 10,000 reported at the Traders Hotel and 50,000 at the Thein Gyi market. The police are reported to have turned water cannons against crowds at Sule Pagoda.

Many phone lines into the Burmese state have now been cut, mobile networks have been disabled and the national internet service provider has been taken off-line.

[h/t MediaLens Message Board for this.]

Other sources are reporting that their are splits in the Burmese/Myanmar military, with some senior leaders opposing firing on the protesters:

Leading exile-run websites have claimed cracks have surfaced within the military junta in Myanmar with serious differences brewing between Senior General Than Shwe and his second-in-command, Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, over the brutal attacks on pro-democracy protestors.

‘Maung Aye and his loyalists are opposed to shooting into the crowd,’ the Mizzima, a leading news portal run by exiled pro-democracy journalists, said….

‘It is almost sure that there is some sort of a revolt within the army top brass and the ranks over firing on unarmed protestors,’ Min Maung, an exiled Burmese student leader and now a correspondent for the BBC (Burmese Service) in New Delhi, told IANS by telephone.

The Irrawaddy and Mizzima web sites have claimed that Than Shwe is in favour of opening fire on the demonstrators, while other commanders, including the Yangon regional commander and the northwest and northeastern regional commanders, favour restraint.

‘Very soon Myanmar could witness a mutiny of sorts with several senior commanders and soldiers not willing to attack monks,’ Kyaw Than, president of the All Burmese Students’ League, told IANS.

Further, the Guardian is reporting the existence of a letter in which a group of army officers declare support for the demonstrators:

Letter ‘reveals dissent in Burmese army’

[See the letter here.]

Some Burmese troops have declared their support for the Buddhist monks who have led mass protests in the first apparent sign of disaffection in the army, exiled Burmese sources said today.

Disgruntled officers have formed a group called the Public Patriot Army Association and expressed their backing for demonstrators in a letter drafted on Tuesday.

The document - the veracity of which cannot be independently verified - was obtained by Burmese exiles in Thailand and passed to Guardian Unlimited.

“On behalf of the armed forces, we declare our support for the non-violent action of the Buddhist monks and members of the public and their peaceful expression,” it said.

“We are all encountering crisis in the economy and in society, political difficulties of various kinds of oppression. Those realities not only affect the public and Buddhist monks. We in the military are also affected.”

Burmese exiles in Thailand, who translated the letter, said it was a source of encouragement to the anti-government movement.

They claimed Burma’s military rulers were so concerned by mutiny in the army that they had ordered the arrest of the colonel in charge of governing Rangoon.

Any sign of dissent within the ranks would be a cause for alarm for the three-man military junta. The junta is led by 74-year-old General Than Shwe, who has been acting as the head of state since 1992, and the military has ruled Burma since 1962.

When he became head of state, Gen Than Shwe appeared to be more liberal than his predecessor, General Saw Maung.

He freed some political prisoners and allowed human rights groups to visit Burma. However, he remains resolutely opposed to any role for Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has been under arrest for more than a decade.

Gen Than Shwe’s career included a stint in the department of psychological warfare. Said to be superstitious, he reportedly consults astrologers. Generals Maung Aye and Soe Win, both hardliners, complete the triumvirate.

The junta reinforced its reputation for paranoia by moving the capital deep into the mountainous jungle at Naypyidaw, outside the town of Pyinmana and 230 miles north of Rangoon.

Activists said the move was designed to insulate the generals from decades of misrule.

Entry Filed under: Burma, Myanmar, War and Peace