ocr: Burma suffers from considerable ethnic tension between the Burman majority and the smaller ethnic groups. At independence, the Shans, Karens, Kachins, Mons, Karennis and Chins all demanded their ownl states within a federation but were refused by the central government. All groups have kept their demands alive with low-level guerrilla activity against the state; in 1988 they unitedin a UHH1LOI cause against the military dictatorship, but several groups have recently signedpeace treaties with the government. As savage history, mainly of. Burman repression of smaller groups, still plays a large ...
