In the past few months murder and mayhem in Rangoon have increased speculation about a major power struggle in Burma. For weeks the capital has been rife with rumours of coups and gun battles in the country’s secretive military leadership.
These have been fuelled by the unexplained death earlier this year of Lieutenant Colonel Bo Win Tun, the personal assistant to the country’s second most powerful General, Maung Aye. At around the same time there was a secret cremation of a military intelligence officer who died during interrogation in the country’s notorious Insein prison. This followed a bomb blast, allegedly detonated by a pro-democracy splinter student group.
