Surprise exit shocks journalists

Surprise exit shocks journalists

Five journalists panicked when they saw GAM military chief
Muzakir Manaf suddenly leave the swearing-in ceremony with a
stony expression, because they had already waited one night for
an interview with him.

"We failed again," a journalist shouted. About 100 GAM
officers also looked surprised when they saw their boss leave
without saying anything while the meeting was still going on.

Armed with M-16 guns, his four adjutants followed the four-
star general.

Journalists, including a cameraman from SCTV, followed him
closely when Muzakir went to an open well behind the school
building where the meeting was going on. About 30 soldiers
guarding the meeting outside the school saluted their supreme
commander.

His adjutants did not allow journalists to follow him as he
left the venue in a Kijang van. The adjutants were nervous when
they saw Muzakir looking so tense. The journalists were desperate
because they thought the general had left without talking to them
first.

However, they were all relieved when they saw Muzakir return,
looking more relaxed. One of his aides said the general had just
returned from a nearby river.

"As there is no toilet here, the commander had to go to the
river to relieve himself," the aide said with a big smile.

When he reentered the meeting venue, all of the participants
rose and gave a military salute to their boss. They might have
thought he had just returned from a more urgent meeting.

"I understand now why he looked so tense," a journalist
whispered to his friend. -- JP