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ASIA
Child Soldiers Quit
Rebels believed young Thais had mystical powers
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Daniel Lovering, Chronicle Foreign Service
Friday, January 19, 2001
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Suan Phung, Thailand -- With a cigarette clutched in his tiny right hand, Luther Htoo
walked barefoot out of the dark confines of a Thai police facility, flashing a tired smile at
guards towering over him with assault rifles pressed against their chests.
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Behind him walked Johnny, his diminutive twin
brother, and other ragged youngsters in grubby
T-shirts and shaggy hair. All are members of a militia
group of Burmese child soldiers called God's Army
that has been on the run for a year.
Led by the Htoo brothers, 17 members of God's Army
have surrendered this week to authorities in Suan
Phung, 100 miles west of Bangkok. Luther and
Johnny, who have been known to shoulder M-16 rifles
almost as tall as they are,
appear to be between 12 and 15 years old. Many of
their followers seem to be about the same age.
God's Army is a 3-year-old offshoot of the Karen National Union (KNU), the main rebel
army of Burma's ethnic Karen minority, which has fought the hard- line military
government in Rangoon for decades. Members of the ragtag guerrilla group had believed
the 5-foot-tall Htoo twins wielded mystical powers that made them invincible on the
battlefield.
But Thai border troops discovered the youngsters weren't invincible against starvation.
After their supplies from Thailand were cut off and their weapons seized in recent weeks,
the depleted rebel group simply gave up. Earlier this year, the boys' jungle headquarters
at Ka Mar Pa Law, just across the border from Thailand, had fallen to Burmese
government forces.
Johnny and the chain-smoking Luther seemed relieved to be abandoning their military
mission. They munched on cookies provided by the police as their arms were held by
soldiers who whisked them between buildings at the border station.
"They all surrendered unarmed," said Gen. Surayud Chulanon, head of the Thai army.
"We searched until we found an area where they were hiding guns, and we made contact
until they surrendered."
Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962. The Karen are the largest of several
ethnic groups that live astride the nation's borders with Thailand and China. Others
include the Kachin, Karenni, Shan, Mon and Wa. Each has fielded a guerrilla army at
some point, though most have negotiated cease-fire agreements in recent years.
The KNU once controlled a huge swath of eastern Burma, but has lost ground steadily
over the last decade. It now depends on retreating to Thai territory for refuge.
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God's Army was formed after an assault on the twins' village, when the Htoos allegedly
inspired a daring counterattack. That rare victory gave birth to a local legend about their
mystical powers. Like many Karen, the soldiers in God's Army are fundamentalist
Christians in a predominantly Buddhist country.
Thai military officials had been searching for the rebels since New Year's Eve, after the
group raided a nearby village, killing six Thais.
God's Army staged a larger cross-border attack at Ratchaburi last year when 10 guerrillas
took over a hospital with the help of an allied rebel group, the Vigorous Burmese Student
Warriors. They hoped to pressure Thailand to provide sanctuary for their civilian
followers by holding 700 hostages. Thai forces killed all 10 rebels in an early morning
raid.
Three of the God's Army members in custody have confessed to carrying out the bloody
New Year's Eve raid and have been charged with murder and robbery, police Maj. Gen.
Chalong Sonjai said.
Following the raid, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai pledged to track down and
punish those responsible. On Wednesday, he flew by helicopter to this rural village to see
the young rebels, whose story received a brief spate of news attention last year. He held
up Johnny's left arm and stared at a tattoo before moving on to Luther, who touched his
palms together and bowed in a traditional Thai greeting.
"We have succeeded in finding them," Chuan said after shaking hands and chatting with
the heavily guarded children. "If someone was involved in a crime here, we will take legal
action. The people of Ratchaburi will now have more peace."
Thai military officials said they were able to convince the God's Army members to
surrender by promising them they would be treated fairly and that those not involved in
the latest killings would not be punished.
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But Gen. Surayud warned that "those responsible for killing Thais . . . will be prosecuted
according to Thai law."
The fate of the child soldiers is now in the hands of provincial leaders, who will
determine whether or not the children qualify as refugees and can join the more than
100,000 other Karens in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. The twins' mother
is rumored to be in one of the camps; their father's whereabouts are unknown.
"Our first hope is to send the children back to their parents if possible," Gen. Surayud
said.
Even if they are not found to be directly responsible for the deaths of Thais, the Htoo
boys could be extradited to Burma. "If Burma asks for their return, we will decide based
on international law," Ratchaburi provincial governor Komes Dangthongdee said.
By most accounts, the ranks of God's Army have dwindled, and according to Thai
authorities, only a handful of fighters are believed to be living close to family members
along the border.
"I can't confirm now that God's Army is finished," Gen. Surayud said. "We have to find
more information, but I have heard that some have spread out and gone north."
Sunant Kongying, a school teacher in Suan Phung, came to the border police station in
hopes of catching a glimpse of the mysterious twins.
"I just wanted to see them," she said. "I can't believe they were behind everything. They
are so young."
This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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