Aizawl, Mar 12 : The Burmese junta brass has threatened to replace the Northern Regional Commander Brig-Gen Soe Win if he fails to pressurize Kachin ceasefire groups and Kachin youth, said local sources close to the Burmese Army.
Brig-Gen Soe Win has been threatened with replacement before his term ends. He was appointed as Northern Regional Commander in late June last year in place of his predecessor Maj-Gen Ohn Myint who was promoted as commander of the junta’s Bureau of Special Operations (BSO) No. 1, said sources in Northern Regional Command Headquarters (Ma Pa Kha) based in Kachin State’s capital Myitkyina.
The sources added, that Brig-Gen Soe Win is the junta’s No. 2 strongman Senior-General Maung Aye’s man whereas Maj-Gen Ohn Myint is the junta’ supremo Senior-General Than Shwe’s protege.
According to Northern Regional Command Headquarters sources, Commander Soe Win was threatened last month by his senior officer Maj-Gen Ohn Myint when he made his regular inspection trip of development projects around Kachin State including the controlled areas of the Kachin ceasefire group, the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K).
Soon after his appointment in Kachin State, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint ordered his successor Brig-Gen Soe Win to keep under pressure the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the main Kachin ceasefire group in the state as well as keep Kachin youth in check, said local sources.
Under Maj-Gen Ohn Myint’s pressure on Brig-Gen Soe Win, more and more Kachin youth were systematically sent to jails compared to other non-Kachin races in the state if they committed small civil or criminal offenses, insiders at the Northern Regional Command Headquarters said.
Before the September, 2007 Saffron Revolution or Buddhist monk-led demonstrations in Burma, the All Kachin Students’ Union (AKSU), an underground Kachin students’ organization organized a series of anti-junta poster movements in KachinState. However, no one was detained by the authorities.
But, the KIO, its armed-wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and the NDA-K are divided and their economic resources had been severely jeopardized by Maj-Gen Ohn Myint during his tenure in Kachin State from mid 2005 to early July 2008, said KIO/A and NDA-K sources.
In December 2005, the KIO/A split with a group led by Lasang Awng Wa being awarded Gwi Htu Pa near Myitkyina as his special controlled area by Maj-Gen Ohn Myint while a series of reunification meetings were held between KIO/A and Lasang Awng Wa.
Moreover, the main sources of income of the KIO/A and NDA-K like timber trade on the Sino-Burma border, gold mines in Hukawng (Hugawng) Valley and Upper Mali and N’Mai Rivers were often blocked or cracked down upon by the Burmese Army on the orders of Maj-Gen Ohn Myint.
On May 7, 2008, KIO/A was forced to shift from its neutral stand over the junta’s constitutional referendum and supported it because Maj-Gen Ohn Myint marched to the KIO/A Headquarters in Laiza on the Sino-Burma border with heavy military equipment like tanks and armoured cars.
In the later part of 2005, the Rawang, one of Kachin tribes in Kachin State formed a militia group called Rebellion Resistance Force (RRF) in Hkawng Lang Hpu in Putao District in northern Kachin State with financial and arms support from commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint.
For these accomplishments of Maj-Gen Ohn Myint in Kachin State, he was highly applauded by Senior-General Than Shwe who said, “This man is a very reliable person except when he is drunk.” He was later promoted to Commander of Bureau of Special Operations (BSO) 1 in which Kachin State, Chin State, Sagaing Division, Magwe Division and Mandalay Division are included.
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