Burmese Generals Need To Be Held To Account

Burmese Generals Need To Be Held To Account

Believe it or not the Burmese Army thinks of itself as a model army. However, looking at their track records its more a "new model army".

In 1962 the army staged a coup and during protests by the students, the army slaughtered hundreds. No soldiers or officers faced any consequences. In fact many were promoted!

In 1974 when then UN Secretary General U Thant died and was returned to Burma for burial, disturbances arose at the time of his funeral in Rangoon. Many students were slaughtered by the army in cold blood. Again, no soldiers or officers faced consequences. Instead, almost all of them were promoted.

In 1988 the whole country rose up against the military dictatorship and many thousands were savagely gunned down. Again, no soldiers or officers were court marital. Instead, almost all the officer involved in killing of innocent civilians, who they are sworn to protect, were promoted. Some of those same officers hold top positions in the current junta.

There are many well documented cases of rapes, murders, looting and stealing by the Burmese military during operations conducted in rebel areas What there is not is a single incidence of a court martial for the criminal acts committed against ethnic minorities.

Now the army is slaughtering monks and civilians again. Will they be rewarded for this behaviour? Based on the military's track records, the officers and soldiers believe they will be, just as their superiors have been in the past.

The UN and the international community stood idle and watched many thousands innocent civilians get slaughtered in 1988. No international actions were taken against any Burmese military officers. Will the international community do the same again?

In the Balkan Crisis in the 90s, Milosevic, Karadizc, General Maladic and many Serb officers, who committed crimes against the Croatians and Bosnians, were indicted by the UN Tribunal in Hague. The UN took similar actions also in Rwanda and Sierra Leone. Why not this time against the murderous Burmese Generals? Haven't they done enough crimes against humanity to warrant such actions by the UN?

Since the Burmese people currently cannot take such actions against their powerful oppressors, the international community should help. It is not just one or two generals, it is much bigger than that. Therefore, the international community should send a message that crimes must be punished in accordance with the existing international law.

Such an international threat of future war trials might just get a message to the junta generals and stop the mass murder of monks and students that is currently taking place in Burma today.

ENDS

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* Win Moe is a former 8888 student and served briefly as All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABSDF) vice-chairman and a commander of ABSDF 102 camp till 1992. He has been living in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA since 1992.

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