Yangon - Amid signs that Myanmar's junta chief Senior
General Than Shwe has tightened his grip over the military, at least
five lieutenant generals have been retired from the regime for
'health reasons,' military sources revealed on Monday.
Former senior members of the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) - as the Myanmar junta styles itself - lieutenant generals
Aung Htwe, Khin Maung Than, Kyaw Win, Maung Bo and Ye Myint were
retired on Saturday for 'health reasons,' said a source close to
military.
The state-run Myanmar media rarely publishes news on reshuffles or
dismissals within the military establishment, which has ruled the
country since 1962.
All of the retired lieutenant generals, in their late 60s and 70s,
were members of the Bureau of Special Operations. They were replaced
by five younger military commanders.
The dismissals follow the arrest on May 29 of Aung Zaw Ye Myint
29, the son of Lieutenant General Ye Myint, the chief of the Bureau
of Special Operations, one of the retirees.
Aung Zaw Ye Myint was reportedly arrested for drug trafficking.
'Than Shwe may have just used the arrest to hasten the
retirements,' said Win Min, a lecturer on Myanmar affairs in Chiang
Mai University in neighbouring Thailand.
The retirements follow a small cabinet reshuffle on Friday, that
saw three ministers switch posts.
On Friday, Social Welfare Minister Major General Maung Maung Shwe,
who has been busy with cyclone relief efforts since Cyclone Nargis
hit Myanmar's central coast on May 2-3, lost his secondary post and
more lucrative post as minister of Immigration and Resettlement,
according to state radio reports.
Although the move can be seen as allowing Maung Maung Shwe to
spend more time on cyclone relief, political watchers saw it as a
slight for General Maung Aye, the army commander-in-chief and Number
2 man in the junta.
Than Shwe and Maung Aye have long been rivals for power within the
military.
The new immigration minister is Major General Saw Lwin, the former
head of the Industry 2 Ministry which is now led by
Lieutenant-General Soe Thein, the former Navy commander-in-chief.
Soe Thein is known to be close to Than Shwe's favoured successor,
Lieutenant General Shwe Mann.
'Than Shwe strengthened his hand in Friday's reshuffle and so one
can expect more of the same from his replacements of the retired
lieutenant generals,' said Win Min.
Politics is primarily a military affair in Myanmar. The junta
staged a general election in 1990 that handed a landslide victory to
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San
Suu Kyi.
But the military ignored the election outcome, saying a new
constitution was needed before civilian rule could take place, and
has kept Suu Kyi under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.
The junta has promised a general election in 2010, now that it has
already pushed through a new constitution that essentially allows it
full control over any future elected government.
Ms ForrestJun 23rd, 2008 - 21:15:42
I am sincerely wishing the impossible wish that 'The current and any replacing military officials will all possesses kind hearts and wise spirits to promote the welfare of Burmese people who can rejoice the freedom of life in Burma, their birth place'
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