USDA Member Killed over Aggressive Campaign Tactics, Residents Say

By AYE LAE
An active member of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) was stabbed to death in Sittwe on Tuesday because of his aggressive campaigning for a “Yes” vote in the constitutional referendum, local residents said.

Tun Thein, 26, was stabbed several times with a knife in his home by 19-year-old Tun Lin at about 8:30 pm in Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, according to a senior member of the opposition National League for Democracy, who asked to be anonymous.

He told The Irrawaddy, based on information he had gathered, that Tun Lin became angry because of Tun Thein’s aggressive efforts to get him to join the USDA and vote “Yes” in the referendum on May 10. He said Tun Thein also had reportedly harassed Tun Lin’s father, who works as a laborer in the harbor.

A police officer at the No 2 police station in Sittwe said Tun Thein was killed because of a personal disagreement with Tun Lin, who is in police custody.

The USDA is notoriously well-known for its harassment of opposition group members and activists. The volunteer group has been compared to a vigilante organization, especially following the monk-led uprising in September 2007 which it helped to put down.

Two USDA members were reportedly killed in Kyee Myin Daing and Hlaing-Tar-Yar townships in Rangoon in recent months, according to local sources. No details could be confirmed.

USDA members played a key role in the deadly attack on democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s motorcade near Depeyin in 2003, in which an estimated 100 people were killed.


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