by Ann Williams
When McNamee was asked how he felt about the 1982 Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombing, he said, ‘I thought the same as everybody. It was a terrible atrocity and a sad loss for the families.’
Rangoon Bombing
It was the most sickening thing I have ever seen – dead, wounded and bloody monks, women and children piled up on gurneys and on the floor of a third world hospital.
Visitor to Rangoon General Hospital
The Rangoon Bombing, as it is known, took place in the city of Yangon (formerly Rangoon), Burma. It was timed to coincide with an official visit to the city mausoleum by the President of South Korea, Chun Doo Hwan. However, by a extraordinary twist of fate, the President arrived a few minutes late, just after the bomb had detonated. He was lucky to escape with his life, but others in the crowd that had gathered were not so fortunate: the death toll numbered 21 in total, and 46 more people were injured.
‘THE LAST POST’
October 9, 1983, was the day that President Chun Doo Hwan of South Korea was planning to lay a wreath at the tomb of Thankin Aung Sang, as a mark of respect to the former leader of Burma who had been brutally assassinated in 1947. Aung Sang was much respected in Burma, and around the world, as the leader who had negotiated the country’s independence from their colonial masters; today, his daughter Aung Sang Suu Kyi has bravely continued this tradition, following a path of nonviolent resistance to the current oppressive regime in the country.
Before the President arrived at the mausoleum, his aides began to gather there. Many of them were top-ranking officials in the South Korean government, and there were also security personnel, journalists and advisers present. Unbeknown to them, three bombs were hidden in the roof above them. Meanwhile, President Chun was running late for his appointment, his car held up in the city’s busy traffic.
The small crowd waited for the President to arrive, and eventually, his car appeared on the driveway. As it did, a trumpet player struck up The Last Post, practising the tune before the ceremony took place. It was a stroke of good fortune for President Chun that he did, because the bombers, who were watching from a safe distance, took this as a sign that he had arrived in the building, and accordingly, detonated the bombs by remote control.
A LEGACY OF HATRED
In the event, only one of the bombs went off, but it was enough to do an enormous amount of damage. Some of the most important people in the South Korean government were killed: the Deputy Prime Minister, Suh Suk Joo, the Foreign Minister, Lee Bum Suk; and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Kim Dong Whie. In addition, 18 others lay dead, and many more sustained serious injuries. Not only this, but the building was ripped apart by the explosion.
The fact that President Chun had escaped was lucky for him, but it was also a relief in terms of the political dynamics of the region. Many commentators speculated that if he had been killed in the blast, war might once again have broken out between North and South Korea, as had happened in the 1950s with the Korean War. The Korean War, which had been one of the central conflicts of the Cold War, had become a battle for control of the peninsula between the Western Allies, who backed South Korea, and the Soviet Communists, who backed North Korea. It had led to over one million casualties on each side, decimated the populations of both countries, destroyed their infrastructure and economy, and left a legacy of hatred and distrust between the two sides. From that time on, the peninsula had been divided: an extremely repressive Communist regime ruled in the North, while a dictatorial, pro-US government ruled in the South. Between them lay one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world.
SUICIDE BY HAND GRENADE
When the Rangoon bombing took place, suspicion immediately fell on Kim II Sung, leader of North Korea. Since the partition, North Korea had repeatedly been involved in acts of terrorism against South Korea, and this seemed to be another episode in the continuing hostilities between the two nations. President Chun immediately issued a statement linking the North Koreans to the attack. The North Korean Central News Agency retaliated by calling this a ‘preposterous and ridiculous act’. Nevertheless, Chun remained convinced that the bomb was the work of Kim II Sung, and he showed his disgust by deciding to start again a ballistic missile programme, an action that did not bode well for stable relations between the two states.
Initially, there was no direct evidence to link Kim II Sung to the attack. However, two days later, a North Korean suspect was picked up, who tried to blow himself up with a hand grenade. On the same day, Burmese villagers reported the presence of two foreigners in their rural area, and when these men were arrested, they too were found to be North Koreans. They also attempted to blow themselves up with hand grenades, and one of them managed to do so, committing suicide in this way. The two remaining men were taken into custody and confessed that they had been sent as envoys from the North Korean government to carry out the assassination of President Chun.
SHOOT-OUT IN THE CABINET
To this day, however, the real story behind the Rangoon Bombing has never been fully uncovered. Although it seems likely that the attack was the work of the North Korean government, it was also the case that President Chun had enemies within South Korea, who conceivably could have been responsible for the atrocity.
President Chun Doo Hwan had lived a turbulent life and was no stranger to violence and political intrigue. Born in 1931, he had made his way up through the military, and had set in motion the events leading up to the assassination of his predecessor, Park Chung Hee, who had died in a shoot-out at a secret government meeting. Chun had effected a military coup in 1979, imposed martial law on the country, and dissolved the country’s National Assembly, arresting many political leaders opposed to his views. His government had been responsible for brutally suppressing protests and demonstrations against the regime, notably at Gwangju, in what became known as the Gwangju Massacre.
Despite the bloody way in which he had come to power, President Chun had gone on to rule South Korea in a less autocratic way than had his predecessor Park, and the economy had continued to prosper under his leadership. However, in the mid-1980s, dissent was beginning to grow once more as a new wave of student protests took place, demanding political rights and freedoms. These protests were supported by large sections of the population, especially those who were now earning high incomes and had begun to demand the kind of democratic rights that they saw in the West.
CORRUPTION CHARGES
Prompted by the US government, Chun wisely accepted that reforms would have to be made, but his political career remained in jeopardy and eventually he was forced to resign. In 1996, he and his successor Roh were charged, as former presidents, with corruption, and they were also found guilty of treason in connection with the way they had taken over power. Chun was sentenced to death, but this was later changed to life imprisonment, and in the end he was pardoned.
Given Chun’s turbulent career, it was clear that he had plenty of enemies. At the time of the Rangoon Bombing, there could have been any number of factions plotting to kill him within South Korea: from supporters of the previous president, to former opposition leaders, to all kinds of political activists. However, the consensus today is that it was the North Korean government, not dissident elements in the South, that was responsible for the murder.
CULT OF THE PERSONALITY
The communist regime of Kim II Sung in North Korea had been a constant source of threat to the South Koreans ever since the partition of the peninsula at the end of the World War II. Kim II Sung had distinguished himself during his military career, and he was an undoubtedly a courageous and charismatic man, but as leader of South Korea he presided over one of the most repressive regimes in the world, in which all opposition to the government was brutally quelled. He also instigated a bizarre cult of the personality, in which his subjects were required to call him ‘Eternal Leader’, and which encouraged the belief that he had supernatural powers. Under his regime, North Korea became extremely poor, in contrast to the prosp
erity of its neighbour in the South, which during the same period experienced a booming economy. By 1994, when Kim II Sung died, North Korea had become almost completely isolated from the rest of the world, so much so that its population were almost entirely unaware of their own backwardness compared to the rapid advances of their neighbours in the South.
STATE TERROR
As Kim II Sung’s regime continued, he became less dependent on support from the Soviet Union and North Korea began to operate more and more as a maverick state. Not only were the North Koreans suspected of involvement in the Rangoon Bombing of October 1983, they were also thought to be behind the bombing of the Korean passenger plane, Flight 858, in November 1987. In this incident, which took place over the Andaman Sea, the entire crew and passengers of the plane lost their lives, totalling 115 deaths. It was thought that the attack was mounted to frighten away visitors to the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and it was also a protest at the fact that the North Koreans had not been invited to co-host the Olympics.
It is not clear whether Kim II Sung himself was personally involved in these acts of state terror, but given his autocratic style of government, it seems likely. Sadly, the situation has not greatly improved in North Korea since his successor, his son Kim Jong-il took over the country in 1994. Today, North Korea continues to be an international pariah, with an appalling record on human rights, nuclear weapons proliferation and many other issues – not the least of which is state terror, as the Rangoon Bombing incident continues to remind us.
The Sabra And Shatila Massacre
Our entry into West Beirut was in order to make war against the infrastructure left by the terrorists.
Ariel Sharon
The brutal massacre of hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent victims at the Sabra and Shatila Massacre in 1982 was one of the worst atrocities to take place during the course of war in Lebanon. For many, it continues to rankle, partly because the perpetrators were never brought to justice. After the event, the commander of the massacre, Elie Hobeka, became a minister in the Lebanese government; he was later assassinated. A court case was mounted against the Israeli Defence Minister, Ariel Sharon, when he became Prime Minister in 2001, in the hopes that his indirect involvement in the incident would also be recognized; however, the case was dismissed, much to the anger of the many families whose loved ones had been killed.
Today, there remains a great deal of controversy surrounding the incident, especially with the regard to the number of victims. Many argue that the massacre was a deeply shameful episode in the civil war, and that it was a crime against the refugees of Sabra and Shatila that has never been properly recognized by the international community. Others point to the atrocities committed by Palestinian sympathizers that provoked it. But whatever the human cost of the massacre, it seems that it will continue to be a source of bitter dispute between opposing factions in the Middle East for the foreseeable future.
CHAOS AND VIOLENCE
The massacre took place against a complex political and military backdrop of conflict in Lebanon and surrounding countries, which had been going on for decades. The central issue was that of the presence of Palestinian refugees in the country, many of whom had fled from Israel, but who were resented by nationalist elements in Lebanon, especially Christian religious groups. From 1975, fighting had broken out between Lebanese Christian militias and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by Yasser Arafat. It was not long before neighbouring countries, such as Syria, were pulled into the conflict, supporting the Lebanese militias against the Palestinians, who were forced out of Beirut into the South. In 1978, Israel itself had invaded Lebanon, but they had been ordered out by the United Nations.
Hostilities then escalated as the PLO began to attack Israel’s border from its base in Southern Lebanon, until in 1982 Israel once more invaded the country, with the purpose of evicting the Palestinians. This was the point when the Sabra and Shatila Massacre took place, in an atmosphere of such general chaos, violence and lawlessness that it has been difficult for historians and other commentators to agree on exactly what happened.
REVENGE KILLINGS
According to reliable reports, the massacre took place at the command of Elie Hobeika, the commander of the Lebanese Phalange party’s militia force. In 1976, Hobeika’s fiancée and some members of his family had been killed in a PLO terror attack at Damour, so he had plenty of reason to want revenge. When the Israeli army invaded in 1982, the opportunity came for the Phalange militia to move into the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilia, ostensibly to deal with PLO terrorists. Instead, they raped, murdered and brutalized the civilian inhabitants of the camps over a period of three days.
Later, radio workers reported that the militia soldiers had been given the order to do so by Hobeika himself. They alleged that when a militia leader asked Hobeika how to treat Palestinian women and children who had been taken prisoner, he said, ‘This is the last time you ask me a question like that. You know exactly what to do.’ However, Hobeika later claimed that he had been forced into ordering the massacre by Israeli Defence Minister Ariel Sharon.
RAPED, TERRORIZED AND SHOT
Whatever the truth of the matter, there is no doubt that defenceless men, women and children, who had already been displaced as a result of war, were killed at Sabra and Shatila. Sabra is a run-down suburb of Beirut, while Shatila had been set up by the United Nations as a Palestinian refugee camp in 1949, and it had grown larger as refugees continued to flee there over the years. These powerless victims of war, who lived in poverty and squalor, were now subjected to vicious assaults by the Lebanese militia: women were raped, children terrorized, and whole families shot in front of horrified onlookers. While the militia soldiers performed their gruesome crimes, the Israeli forces patrolled the borders of the camps, making sure they could continue their dirty work. Tellingly, the ostensible reason for the raids – to seek out PLO terrorists – was forgotten: no PLO activists were handed over to the authorities, although a large amount of ammunition was apparently confiscated.
Eyewitnesses to the attacks report that on September 15, 1982, the Israeli military circled the camps, setting up observation points around the periphery. They then fired flares into the area, lighting up the sky so that the soldiers could see what was happening in the camp. The following evening, Elie Hobeika and his Phalangist militiamen stormed the camps, attacking entire families in an orgy of violence. Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued to fire illumination flares into the sky, and they blocked the exits of the camps so that the refugees could not find a way to escape. It also provided the militia troops with food and water, and made sure they had enough ammunition. The militia soldiers reported many of the killings to the Israelis, who allowed the massacre to carry on, turning a blind eye to the atrocities they knew were being perpetrated against the refugees.
THE UNKNOWN DEAD
Eventually, after three days, the Israelis ordered the militia out of the camps, but by this time the soldiers were in no mood to listen to orders. Instead, they frogmarched the remaining victims out of the area and herded them into a stadium to be questioned, killing many of them at random on the way.
By September 18, the massacre was over. According to reports by journalists and international relief agencies such as the Red Cross, who were the first to arrive at the scene of carnage, there were hundreds of mutilated bodies lying dead in the streets. Later, a great deal of controversy arose as to the exact number of victims. Estimates varied from 700 (based on Israeli intelligence figures) to 3,000 (as alleged by Israeli journalist Amnon Kapeliouk). Tragically, because of the chaotic, random way in which the murders took place, many bodies were left uncounted and unburied, so to this day the real number of victims remains unknown.
BITTER AFTERMATH
Not surprisingly, the aftermath of the massacre was a bitter one. The United Nations General Assembly responded by declaring the massacre to be an act of genocide. Initially, the Israeli government tried to defend
itself by denying the massacre had taken place, but as evidence to the contrary grew, it realized this position was untenable. Under pressure from the international community, as well as their own people, who held large demonstrations in the capital Tel Aviv, the Israeli government set up a commission to look into their army’s part in the massacre. It eventually reported, a year after the massacre took place, that the Israeli army had not been ‘directly’ involved in the killings; however, it held Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, among others, to be ‘indirectly responsible’. The commission recommended that Sharon, along with several other powerful figures, be dismissed. Sharon accordingly stepped down. The commission also recommended that he should not hold public office in Israel again. Despite this, he became prime minister in 2001.
There were attempts to bring Sharon to justice, but they failed. After he became prime minister, relatives of the massacre victims attempted to mount a case against him in Belgium; however, the case was thrown out of court. A number of other human rights cases were also being put forward in the Belgian courts, against such figures as Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, George Bush, Colin Powell and Augusto Pinochet. Faced with the enormous complications of these proceedings, and under pressure from the US and NATO (who threatened to move their headquarters from the country), the Belgian courts decided that only crimes against Belgian citizens could be considered within their legal system. To the dismay of many international commentators, Sharon escaped trial and continued to hold office as prime minister until he became ill and was forced to retire in 2006.
