THAILAND:A senior leader of the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the biggest ethnic minority groups fighting Burma's military regime, was assassinated at his home yesterday in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, sending shock waves through the ranks of Burmese political dissidents.
Padoh Mahn Sha (64), who served as a crucial link between ethnic minority insurgent groups and Burma's pro-democracy movement, was shot repeatedly by two men in a pick-up truck. He had led the KNU since 2000.
The KNU once boasted a formidable guerrilla force but it has been weakened considerably over the past decades by army offensives and infighting.
Mr Mahn Sha was a supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel prize-winning democracy leader, believing that her vision of a democratic Burma would offer the best protection of the rights and interests of ethnic minorities, who account for 30 per cent of the population.
In 1988, he took the lead in sheltering Burmese students fleeing a military crackdown on anti-government demonstrations.
At his death, he held a top position in an umbrella organisation of Burmese exile groups trying to promote peaceful resistance to military rule inside Burma.
"He has played a leading role in uniting different ethnic [ minorities] with the mainstream democracy movement," said Mark Farmaner, of Burma Campaign UK.
Mr Mahn Sha's killing comes just days after the Burmese junta announced a May national referendum on a controversial constitution. Critics say the draft charter would essentially "legalise" military rule, while making few concessions to ethnic minorities' desire for autonomy.
Mr Mahn Sha, who had warned of a possible increase in violence ahead of the referendum, was reviled by Burma's military regime, and its state-controlled media frequently accused him of being the "terrorist" behind violent incidents in Burma.
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing, but dissidents in Mae Sot speculated that the assassins might have been affiliated with KNU breakaway factions now allied with the military regime.
The unprecedented assassination on Thai soil has also sparked fear and anxiety among other Burmese dissidents in Mae Sot. More than 140,000 Karen refugees live in camps in Thailand. "We are worried that there is going to be more bloodshed," said Nyo Ohn Myint, a member of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.