Tweet
Myanmar's Once-Powerful Prime Minister May Have Been Ousted, Thai Official Says
Myanmar's Once-Powerful Prime Minister May Have Been Ousted, Thai Official Says
By Daniel Lovering Associated Press Writer
Published: Oct 19, 2004
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The secretive military government of Myanmar was at the center of rumors and reports Tuesday that the prime minister, the long-powerful Gen. Khin Nyunt, had been removed from office, senior officials in neighboring Thailand said.
The rumors could not be immediately confirmed either in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, or in Thailand. But if proven true, the ouster could further a shift toward hardliners in a balance of power within the junta and hamper reconciliation with the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Thai Gen. Lertart Rattanatavanich told reporters in Mai Sot, a Thai town on the border with Myanmar, that Thai army reports indicated that the junta "is unhappy with Khin Nyunt and they want to remove him from his position."
"We believe that whatever has happened is about changing the position of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt," Lertart said.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was holding a Cabinet meeting in the eastern town, said he had "received reports that there is some political tension in Myanmar" but could not confirm what was happening.
Meanwhile, Bangkok Metropolitan Police Chief Lt. Gen. Pansiri Prapawat told reporters he had ordered tighter security at the Myanmar Embassy over concerns about the reports.
In Myanmar, a highly closed society, several rumors have been circulating, including that Khin Nyunt had been forced to resign and that soldiers had raided the military intelligence headquarters, which Khin Nyunt had long headed.
Diplomats in Yangon said on condition of anonymity that there was a rumor that Khin Nyunt had been "taken out of circulation," but they had no details.
There was no sign of tanks or increased military presence in the streets and any ouster would appear to have been an internal affair.
In some aspects, Khin Nyunt is considered a moderate, though he never prevailed on other generals to strike a deal with the high-profile leader of the opposition, Suu Kyi, to restore democracy to this impoverished Southeast Asian country.
Khin Nyunt assumed the prime minister's post last year in what was seen as a demotion from the positions he had previously held in the ruling clique of generals, increasingly dominated in recent years by hardliners.
In the past year, Khin Nyunt promoted what he called a road map toward democracy in U.N.-brokered contacts between the government and Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy. The talks went nowhere, and critics accused the government of using stalling tactics to retain its monopoly on power.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962, when army commander Ne Win seized power. Pro-democracy protests led by Suu Kyi were bloodily suppressed in 1988, and Khin Nyunt was one of the younger generation of generals who assumed power.
AP-ES-10-19-04 0201EDT