SHAN salutes General Mya who passed away at (02:00), Sunday, 24 December 2006

Gen Bo Mya, the longtime leader of one of Burma ’s largest armed ethnic opposition groups, died early Sunday morning at a hospital in Mae Sot, Thailand , from complications due to diabetes. He was 79 years old.

A major figure among Burma ’s numerous ethnic insurgency groups, Bo Mya held key positions in the Karen National Union, including chairman and vice chairman. Despite chronic ill health due to diabetes in recent years, he still held the position of head of the KNU Defense Department at the time of his death.

Bo Mya was born in Htee Moo Kee village in Burma ’s Papun district on January 20, 1927 . Prior to independence, he served with both Japanese and English colonial forces. Before joining the KNU’s armed rebellion, he had also enlisted in the Union Military Police, formed by the post-independence ruling party, the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League.

The KNU began its armed rebellion in 1948, making it Burma ’s longest-running insurgency. With nearly a half century of battle and revolutionary experience, Bo Mya won the respect of many exiled leaders and dissidents. He also earned the respect and fear of his troops due to his straightforward and ruthless leadership. He served as chairman of the armed ethnic group from 1976 to 2000, after which he was named vice chairman.

KNU officials said Bo Mya’s death will affect the group, but that it remains committed to the struggle against Burma ’s military government. “His death impacts the KNU, but it doesn’t mean the Karen revolution will fall down,” said the group’s general secretary, Mahn Sha. “The KNU will continue to follow its principles.”

A funeral service is expected to be held on December 26 in Pu Bo Mya Plaw (also called Mu Aye Pu) in Karen State , near the Thai-Burma border.

Myanmar rebel leader Bo Mya dies at 79

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer

A longtime leader of Myanmar's largest guerrilla group died early Sunday, a spokesman for the Karen National Union said.

Bo Mya, 79, who most recently held the title of defense minister in the rebel group, died after suffering a long illness, according the group's spokesman David Thaw. He died in a private Thai hospital near the border with Myanmar.

Bo Mya's body has been taken into Myanmar and he will be buried on Tuesday.

"This is the big loss for the Karen and all Myanmar ethnic fighters," said Mahn Sha, the group's general secretary. "Gen. Bo Mya has led the fight of the Karen for more than five decades."

The Karen National Union has fought for autonomy since Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948. Once in control of large swaths of the Thai-Myanmar border, the KNU has seen their territory shrink to virtually nothing following the capture of their stronghold of Manerplaw in 1995.

Hundreds of thousands of people, according to expert estimates, have died in a conflict largely hidden from the international spotlight. However, human rights groups have documented continuing killings, rapes, forced relocations and burning of villages as the military seeks to control areas of Myanmar regarded as sympathetic to the Karen National Union and other insurgent groups. These atrocities are denied by the junta.

Bo Mya, who fought with the Allies against the Japanese in World War II, joined the cause in 1947 when he was a policeman and the country was under British rule.

Over the years, Bo Mya essentially became the face of the movement, leading its fighters in the jungles of Myanmar, then known as Burma. But as defections mounted in the 1990s, there were demands to replace the domineering, stocky Bo Mya with a younger leader.

He was forced out of the top leadership position of the KNU in 2000, after a disastrous terrorist raid on a Thai hospital by a Karen splinter group, during which 10 rebels were killed by Thai commandos to free hundreds of hostages.

Still, Bo Mya remained a key member of the resistance, even heading a Karen delegation in an unsuccessful bid in 2004 to sign a peace pact with the military government.

Those talks fell apart after Gen. Khin Nyunt was replaced in 2004 by more hardline generals who have intensified the campaign against the rebellious Karen minority. The fighting has been especially fierce this year, with Human Rights Watch claiming a year-long offensive has displaced 27,000 civilians and killed dozens more.

More recently, Bo Mya has largely faded from the scene because of his poor health. He appeared at a Karen event in January in a wheelchair, his speech slurred by a stroke, his right hand trembling.

"Dad is my hero and the hero of all ethnic fighters," said one of Bo Mya's sons, Ner Dah Mya, who is a top rebel commander. "My three brothers and I will continue to fight for the Karen people to fulfill the dream of our dad."

Bo Mya is survived by his wife Naw Lar Pow, seven children and two dozen grandchildren.