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The 1999 Burmese Embassy siege of 7 October 1999 was the seizure of the embassy of the Union of Myanmar in Bangkok, Thailand. A group of Burmese dissidents from the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) and God's Army stormed the Burmese embassy and held 89 people, including embassy staff, Burmese nationals, foreigners and Thai citizens.〔http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/463569.stm〕 All hostages were released unharmed and the hostage takers were allowed to escape to the Burmese-Thai border by the Thai authorities. ==Context and Motivation== Myanmar (Burma) had been under military rule since 1962 when General Ne Win staged a coup against the democratically elected government of U Nu. He implemented the Burmese Way to Socialism system which greatly impoverished the country. In addition, the Karens had been fighting a civil war for an independent homeland since 1949. This had antagonised a lot of Karen people against the majority Burman dominated government. In 1988, various pro-democracy demonstrations nearly succeeded to topple the authoritarian power structure, only to be replaced by the Army after a brutal crackdown. At that time, many university students from Yangon's universities fled to the Burmese-Thai border where many took up arms to restore democracy, forming the All Burma Students' Democratic Front. Democratic elections were held in 1990 where Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won an overwhelming majority. The junta refused to honour the results and proceeded to root out the pro-democratic forces. In 1997, led by Johnny and Luther Htoo, a group of 200 Karen Christian families left the Karen National Union and formed the God's Army (revolutionary group). Hundreds of democracy and human rights activists, including exiled students claim refuge in Thailand and they regularly lobby for greater democracy in Myanmar. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1999 Myanmar Embassy siege」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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