Burma Army Burns Christian Villages*

 Oct 3rd, 2007 3:17 AM

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife

RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife) -- The United Nations envoy for Burma,
Ibrahim Gambari, arrived in the country Saturday, September 29, to urge
the junta to end its violent crackdown on those opposing the regime, a
day after satellite images confirmed that government-backed forces
massively burn villages of predominantly Christian Karens.

However as Gambari headed for the new administrative capital, Naypyidaw,
to talks with military leaders, Singapore's Foreign Minister, George
Yeo, warned in New York that he and other diplomats fear he will not
accomplish much.

Burmese officials admitted that this week alone at least 10 people,
including a Japanese journalist, were killed in Rangoon by security
forces suppressing pro-democracy demonstrations, but dissidents and
human rights groups said the death toll may be as high as 200.

Government soldiers in Rangoon, also called Yangon, and Mandalay
reportedly raided and cordoned off Buddhist monasteries, and detained
monks accused of instigating the demonstrations against 45 years of
military rule. And, satellite images revealed an ongoing offensive
outside Rangoon, against ethnic minority Karen villages, where many
Christians live.

Unveiling images taken months before the military's latest crackdown on
dissent, the Washington-based American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS) said destroyed settlements are visible in the
high-definition photographs taken by satellites zooming in on the
secretive state since late April.

In Karen areas of eastern Burma, the group used three commercial
satellites to focus on 31 "attack sites," AAAS project director Lars
Bromley told reporters. The images also confirm previous reports on
attacks against Karen villagers by Christian media, including
BosNewsLife, and Christian rights investigators.

"We found evidence of 18 villages that essentially disappeared," Bromley
said. "We got reporting in late April that a set of villages in Karen
State had been burned. We were actually able to identify burn scars on
the ground -- square-shaped burn scars the size of
houses."

VILLAGES DESTROYED

3,000 villages have reportedly been destroyed by the military rulers,
with 1.5 million refugees living along the country's borders. Christian
rights groups estimate there are over one million Internally Displaced
People within Burma, and over 150,000 refugees in Thailand. The
crackdown on Karens and other predominantly Christian minorities has
been linked to the junta's objection to Christianity, which it views as
a threat to its ideology and powerbase.

A satellite pictures taken in 2006, showed foundations and fence lines
with all the structures gone, where a village had stood two years
earlier. The area photographed was the site of a reported military raid
on Karen villagers accused by the regime of supporting KNLA rebels. "We
saw quite extensive evidence of possible forced relocation," Bromley
told reporters.

The Burmese military has also been fighting several rebel groups,
including the Karen NationalLiberation Army (KNLA), which seeks more
autonomy and rights for Karens and whose leadership supports detained
democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi,
BosNewsLife established.

PRESSURING MILITARY

In published remarks, the Policy Director for the United States Campaign
for Burma activist group, Aung Din, said his organization would use the
satellite evidence to pressure the Burmese government to end the violent
crackdown against Karens and pro-democracy protestors.

"We are trying to send a message to the military junta that we are
watching from the sky ... We are warning them not to continue" the
violence, said Aung Din, policy director of the Washington-based US
Campaign for Burma in published remarks. "By showing this evidence ...
we are expecting that we can persuade China" to join international
opposition to the junta's crackdown, he added.

China and Russia have so far blocked UN Security Council resolutions
aimed at condemning Burma's junta.