Moderate Leader Ousted in Myanmar

Myanmar’s military regime has forced out its prime minister, seen as a relative pragmatist, and replaced him with a general who has taken a hard line in dealing with the country’s pro-democracy movement.

Myanmar’s state radio and television announced Tuesday that Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt, 65, was replaced by a top member of the country’s ruling junta, Lt. Gen. Soe Win.

Khin Nyunt, who was also chief of military intelligence, was taken into custody late Monday and charged with corruption, officials in neighboring Thailand said.

His ouster seemed to signal an end to the power struggle between the junta’s so-called moderates and a faction that is uninterested in reconciliation with democracy activists or nations that are critical of the regime.

A brief statement on state media said Khin Nyunt was “permitted to retire for health reasons” -- a phrase that has been used as a euphemism for the dismissal of Cabinet members. It was signed by the junta’s supreme leader, Sr. Gen. Than Shwe.

Soe Win, thought to be about 56, is believed to espouse a confrontational approach to dealing with the democratic movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Western countries that have imposed sanctions on Myanmar, formerly Burma, for years to pressure the military to transfer power to an elected government and to free Suu Kyi.

The activist remains under house arrest in Yangon despite repeated entreaties from the world community, especially United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.