Hinweis zum Sprachgebrauch in älteren Beiträgen
Der folgende ältere Beitrag kann Sprache und Formulierungen enthalten, die heute nicht mehr den Ansprüchen einer diskriminierungsfreien und sensiblen Ausdrucksweise entsprechen. Er wurde im historischen Kontext verfasst und bewusst unverändert gelassen, um unsere jahrzehntelange Menschenrechtsarbeit zu dokumentieren.
The mass protest of Buddhist monks in Burma has according to information received by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) been spreading since the weekend to the areas of Christian nationalities such as the Kachin in the north of the country. „For the first time since the student revolts of 1988 Buddhist monks publicly demonstrated yesterday in several towns of the federal state of Kachin”, reported the GfbV Asia expert, Ulrich Delius in Göttingen on Monday. The junta is now asking the Christian churches not to take part in the protests.
The situation in Burma is extremely tense, warned the GfbV, appealing to the Southeast Asian community ASEAN to intervene in order to avoid bloodshed. Burma ’s neighbours have very good relations with the military junta and could best bring the generals to a course of restraint. The foreign ministers of the ASEAN states will be reporting on the situation in Burma on 27th September in New York .
„More than 300 Buddhist monks protested publicly on Sunday in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin, against the policies of the military junta”, said Delius. In Bhamo City , the second largest town of the federal state, there were 400. The monks were officially forbidden by the authorities to collect donations of food from believers. The secret police had the task of supervising this order strictly.
To prevent the protests spreading to the Christian communities the Burmese Minister for Post and Telecommunications, Brigadier-General Thein Zaw, and the military commander in the federal state of Kachin, General-Major Ohn Myint, visited several churches in Myitkyina last week. They promised to the Baptist Church , the Church of Christ and the Assembly of God deliveries of rice, cash and mobile telephones, which are normally difficult to obtain even among business people.
About 90 percent of the 600,000 Kachin are Christians. They belong to the largest nationalities in the multi-ethnic state, in which since the foundation of the state in 1948 the non-Burmese peoples have been struggling for self-government. These nationalities make up 30 percent of the total population of 54 million people.
Gemeinsam handeln – Newsletter abonnieren
Bleiben Sie informiert über unsere Menschenrechtsarbeit, Erfolge und aktuelle Kampagnen. Unser Newsletter bringt Ihnen Stimmen unserer Partner*innen, Analysen und Möglichkeiten zum Mitmachen direkt ins Postfach.