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 junta’s former principal of Defense Services (Army) Officers’ Training School in Bahtoo, Brig-Gen Soe Win was appointed as Northern or Kachin State commander in late June, 2008.
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. continue
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