| sarahbernhardt14:27 UTC30 Sep 2007 | These reports are a couple of days old but contained some info I hadnt come across before and thought others may be interested in. I'm sorry they're not properly sourced as they were contained in the newsletter of GI Special-a US veterans anti-war newsletter-that someone sent to me :
September 28, 2007 News Desk Special.co.uk
Reports from Rangoon suggest soldiers are mutinying.
It is unclear the numbers involved.
Reports cite heavy shooting in the former Burmese capital.
The organisation Helfen ohne Grenzen (Help without Frontiers) is reporting that “Soldiers from the 66th LID (Light Infantry Division) have turned their weapons against other government troops and possibly police in North Okkalappa township in Rangoon and are defending the protesters.
“At present unsure how many soldiers involved.”
Soldiers in Mandalay, where unrest has spread to as we reported this morning, are also reported to have refused orders to act against protesters.
Some reports claim that many soldiers remained in their barracks.
More recent reports now maintain that soldiers from the 99th LID now being sent there to confront them.
and this:
September 27, 2007 Matthew Weaver and Mark Tran, Guardian Unlimited [Excerpts]
Some Burmese troops have declared their support for the Buddhist monks who have led mass protests in the first apparent sign of disaffection in the army, exiled Burmese sources said today.
Disgruntled officers have formed a group called the Public Patriot Army Association and expressed their backing for demonstrators in a letter drafted on Tuesday.
“On behalf of the armed forces, we declare our support for the non-violent action of the Buddhist monks and members of the public and their peaceful expression,” it said.
“We are all encountering crisis in the economy and in society, political difficulties of various kinds of oppression. Those realities not only affect the public and Buddhist monks. We in the military are also affected.”
Burmese exiles in Thailand, who translated the letter, said it was a source of encouragement to the anti-government movement.
They reported that Burma’s military rulers were so concerned by mutiny in the army that they had ordered the arrest of the colonel in charge of governing Rangoon.
Any sign of dissent within the ranks would be a cause for alarm for the three-man military junta.
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