MIL, Oct 19, 2004. Author: Special Correspondent
Bangkok – According to Thai Govt. spokesman as revealed on Tuesday that General Khin Nyunt, Mayanmar’s Prime Minister, has been sacked and placed under house arrest for alleged corruption charges.
“The Thai government has learned through diplomatic channels from the Thai ambassador in Yangon that the Myanmar prime minister Khin Nyunt was dismissed and detained under house arrest on corruption allegations,” said Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair.
The move took place on Monday night after the Prime Minister returned to the capital Yangon from a visit to the central town of Mandalay and the isolated junta closed its border checkpoints.
Khin Nyunt, 65, was the face of the regime overseas and backed dialogue with the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi but appeared increasingly marginalised with the rise of hardliners within the leadership according to National Kerala News.
Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and head of the junta, is strongly against allowing Aung San Suu Kyi any role in Myanmar’s political process, according to analysts.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been detained for the past 16 months and is currently under her third period of house arrest.
The sacking was the culmination of growing tensions between rival factions within the junta over corruption, according to sources in Myanmar.
Khin Nyunt was appointed soon after Myanmar was condemned internationally for the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi following a violent clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob in 2003.
The premier announced a seven-point “roadmap to democracy” but the program was initiated amid international perotest that the process was a sham while Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.
Her National League for Democracy won national elections in 1990 but was not allowed to rule.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 but has faced mounting international sanctions because of the lack of movement because he was reluctant to adopt democratic reforms.
