Terror campaign in Chin state

In one case, Sui Khar and his fellow Chin rebels robbed weapons from Slorc soldiers.

"We were disguised as traders and were asked to meet six Slorc soldiers who wanted money from us. We asked them to come to a village where we had a little chit-chat and we robbed their weapons and ran."

The CNF held its first party congress in 1993. Roger was elected president.

The CNF began preparations for its urban guerrilla campaign and began looking for more weapons. But in 1994 Roger resigned for health reasons and the following year Thomas Tang No became president and the Chin rebels launched guerrilla warfare in Chin state last year.

Sui Khar and his fellow Chin rebels didn’t reveal their plans for 1997. But apparently, they are preparing to launch more attacks on urban areas in Chin state.

Sui Khar said that ultimately the only answer to their differences with the central govenrment will be found through talks.

"If we want to see a genuine peace in Burma we need a political dialogue."

Aid agencies based in India say that thousands of Chin refugees poured into India’s Mizoran state and Bangladesh recently with stories of forced labour and religious persecution.

According to the accounts, the Chins have suffered from the same kinds of human rights abuses, food shortages and poor health as other ethnic groups in Karen, Mon and Shan states.

One NGO worker said: "This situation has obviously frustrated many Chins and may explain the recent increase in the number of Chins taking up arms against the regime."

This is significant as the Chins have traditionally provided a reliable source of recruits to the Burma’s army and been active in anti-guerrilla warfare.

"Due to the endemic corruption, incompetence and abuses of Slorc officials, many local Chins say the health and living conditions in Chin sate are worse today than 50 years ago," the Burmese Relief Centre's recent report said.

Sui Khar said Chin refugees who have arrived recently complained vigorously about the Slorc’s religious persecution. They charged Slorc with demolishing and destroying Christian monuments and buildings and replacing them with Buddhist structures. In Chin State, about 90% of Chins are Christians.

One instance cited occurred in 1995 when Slorc soldiers knocked down the Johnson Memorial Cross on the Rung Tlang hill near Haka, and replaced it with a pagoda. After demolishing a church in Konkailon village, they forced villagers to build a Buddhist temple on the same site.

Since 1995 there have been more than 10 battalions based in Chin state. Sui Khar said Slorc soldiers have been used to accompany many Chins to construction sites.

"Numerous projects in Chin state are carried out by villagers but they receive no Chin soldiers, once loyal recruits
for the Rangoon government, are stepping up their war of resistance against the govenrment in Chin state on the western border of Burma, say residents and aid workers in and near the area.

Since last year, insurgents from the Chin National Front [CNF] have carried out a series of urban guerrilla attacks against Burmese soldiers.

Some analysts in India have referred to the CNF as "Burma’s IRA."

That would be an overstatement. But a number of terror-like incidents in Chin state last year have created a state of siege for Burmese soldiers stationed in the area.

In February 1996, a bomb planted by CNF rebels exploded at a military intelligence officer’s house in Haka, the capital of Chin state.