Soe Win, 59; general believed to have led ’03 Myanmar attack

Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Soe Win, presumed to have been the architect of a bloody attack on supporters of Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003, died Friday in a military hospital after a long illness, relatives and state media said. He was 59 and was said to have leukemia.

The fourth-ranking member of the military junta, Soe Win was largely considered a figurehead, and his death was unlikely to cause a change in the regime’s grip on power.

His death was reported in Yangon, Myanmar, as the junta continued its crackdown on democracy advocates that followed weeks of protests in the tightly controlled country, also known as Burma.

Soe Win rose in prominence in 1988 for helping to stifle a nationwide pro-democracy uprising. When Khin Nyunt was removed as prime minister in 2004, Soe Win took over, dashing faint prospects for political reform.

The United States said Soe Win was believed to have been directly involved in an attack a year earlier on Suu Kyi and her convoy near the central city of Mandalay in a region under Soe Win’s control.

Exiled dissidents say dozens were killed by youths wielding bamboo and iron rods. The junta says four people died.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, was imprisoned after the incident and remains under house arrest.

Her National League for Democracy won a landslide election in 1990 but was denied power by the military.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

Soe Win was a former air force chief and a commander of the northwestern military region of Myanmar. He joined the junta’s inner circle as Secretary-2 in 2003, and was promoted to Secretary-1 in a 2003 shake-up.

Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, who has been serving as acting prime minister at least since May, is expected to replace Soe Win. Thein Sein is known as a fierce loyalist of Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the junta leader.

Soe Win, who had been treated in Singapore for his illness, returned to Myanmar on Sept. 30. He is survived by his wife and their son and daughter. Soe Win’s twin brother died Sept. 19.