Myanmar’s Minority Groups in Need of Prayer as Atrocities Continue

(http://www.christianpost.com/dbase/missions/1175/section/1.htm, Friday, Oct. 22, 2004)

Two UK-based human rights groups have designated Dec. 5-11, as a week of prayer and fasting for the Karen, Karenni and Shan peoples of Myanmar (Burma). The agencies have also called for weekly prayer and fasting for the three people groups until there is a “radical improvement” in the situation and the atrocities against them have stopped. The Jubilee Campaign and the Karen Action Group, which announced the call for prayer last Friday, say that the Burmese military’s systematic atrocities against the Karen, the Karenni and the Shan peoples amount to “genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity” as defined under international law. “Words cannot sufficiently describe the barbaric atrocities which the Burmese troops are inflicting on the Karen, Karenni and Shan,” said Wilfred Wong, Jubilee Campaign’s researcher and parliamentary officer. As reported by the agency, systematic atrocities include summary executions, rape, torture, forced relocations, forced labor and the destruction of villages, crops and livestock.