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| Southeast Asia |
| Warlord Khun Sa is dead |
| 2007-10-30 |
| One of Asia's most notorious warlords, Khun Sa, has died in the Burmese city of Rangoon. He had reportedly been suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. After almost 30 years of guerrilla warfare against the Burmese government, largely funded by his drugs empire, Khun Sa signed a peace deal in 1996. He then retired to Rangoon, where he lived under the protection of the military rulers, despite the US offering $2m (£1m) for his capture. He was once one of the world's most wanted men, with a vast drug-trafficking operation in the so-called Golden Triangle region, spanning the border of Thailand, Laos and Burma. With a private army numbering in the hundreds, he claimed to be fighting for independence for the Shan people - an ethnic minority group based mainly in Burma. His critics say his claims to be a freedom fighter were a ruse designed to give legitimacy to his drugs empire. Relatives and former colleagues of Khun Sa, who was in his mid-seventies, said he had died within the past week. The cause of death is still unknown. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2007-10-30 14:16 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-10-30 09:50 |