------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 27 APRIL 1995 Issue #158 -------------------------------------------------------------- NOTED IN PASSING: Contents: -------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION: Army "furious" over frontier incursions THE NATION: Burmese foreign exchange rate triggers ADB concern BKK POST: Burmese to be sent home as battles eases BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST -------------------------------------------------------------- o-------------------------------o The BurmaNet News is an | | electronic newspaper | Iti | covering Burma. 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Burma Issues is a Bangkok-based non-governmental organization that documents human rights conditions in Burma and maintains an archive of Burma-related documents. Views expressed in The BurmaNet News do not necessarily reflect those of either NCGUB or Burma Issues. -------------------------------------------------------------- (at titan.oit.umass.edu) (From News system) Are there any MON people out there? I am very interested in knowing my fellow Mon-Khmer people. -------------------------------------------------------------- Army "furious" over frontier incursions 27.4.95/The Nation CHIANG MAI - The Army yesterday expressed outrage over repeated territorial violations by armed Karen intruders following the latest attacks on Karen refugee camps in Tak and Mae Hong Song provinces on Tuesday. But Army Commander -in Chief Gen Wilmol Wongwanich, who visited the camps yesterday to observe the border situation, said the Army would not resort to violent retaliation. He proposed that a safe area be found deeper inside Thailand for the Karen refugees to prevent easy access by the intruders. Third Army Region Commander Lt Gen Surachet Dechatiwong yesterday said he and all other Army leaders were "extremely furious" over the "frequent violations of Thai sovereignty". He said the Third Army Region, which was responsible for the security of the North, including the areas involved, would assert "more preventive measures" to cope with the problem. Security forces on the long border with Burma would be further reinforced, he said, but did not disclose the number of troops to be deployed in the operation. According to Thai border and Karen refugee sources, 150-200 armed troops of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army [DKBA] crossed the Salween River about 1 pm on Tuesday and went into Mae Rama Luang camp in Sob Moei district of Mae Hong Song. The camp was holding about 5,000 refugees. The intruders attacked and fired upon the refugees and also burnt down two of the seven sections of the camp, forcing several hundreds of "frightened refugees" to flee into the jungle. At least two elderly people were caught and killed in the fire, said the Karen sources. The sources said they could not confirm the exact number of the people missing or the casualties. The DKBA also clashed with local refugee security guards, they said. At least four were injured and were sent to Mae Sariang hospital for medical treatment. Both Thai and Karen sources confirmed that several hundred refugees were "forced at gunpoint to cross the Salween River back into Burma". The other incident took place around midnight when an unknown number of DKBA forces crossed the Moei River into Kamawlaeko, a border camp in Tha Song Yang district in Tak housing about 3,000 refugees, and burned down about 300 houses, according to the sources. The sources said they could not confirm the number of refugee casualties nor of the number of hostages taken back to Burma by the intruders. Karen sources said the estimated 70,000 refugees were now living in constant fear of jeopardy and harassment by the DKBA and Burmese troops, who they said often accompanied the Karen intruders into the camps. Tuesday's intrusions occurred only two days after clashes on Sunday between about 200 Burmese and Karen intruders and local Karen refugee security forces guarding two refugee villages in Tak's Tha Song Yang district. The violence of the past few days forced Army chief Wimol to pay an urgent fact-finding visit to border areas and the refugee camps yesterday. Wimol, who was accompanied by Third Army Region Commander Surachet, was also given a briefing at the headquarters of the Task Force 34 in Tak's Mae Sot district and Task Force 35 in Mae Hong Son's Mae Sariang district. Speaking in Chiang Mai after the trip, Wimol said the armed intruders were "outlaws" who often inflicted problems on Thailand and the Thai people. "Whenever there is fighting, Thailand and the Thai people are often affected by the spill over, and sometimes narcotics are also involved. They also affect bilateral Thai-Burmese relations which need a long period of time to establish", he said. Wimol said he planned to propose to the Interior Ministry that a new camp be opened to house all the Karen refugees, who were scattered in numerous shelters "I will consult the Interior Ministry on the point that these people [refugees] are creating a lot of problems and placing burdens on the Thai people, and that they should all be moved to a new refugee camp where they can stay together", he said. Surachet said yesterday he would raise the matter of sovereignty and territorial violations with a 25 member Burmese delegations, led by Burma's southeastern commander Maj Gen Ket Sein, which was currently in Thailand for the 11th meeting of the Thai-Burmese Regional Border Committee. -------------------------------------------------------------- Burmese foreign exchange rate triggers ADB concern. Rangoon - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed concern that the realistic Burmese foreign exchange rate has made it difficult for it to play an active role in financing loans to Burma, a senior officer said yesterday. Noritada Morita, director of the ADB's Programme Department (West), said the Bank's lending policy was not based on "human rights" records, but purely on economic guidelines. When we lend money to a government, the crucial issue [we look at] is the foreign exchange rate, Morita said. "As long as the ADB's charter is concerned, our consideration should be based only on the economic aspect". Most Western countries have stopped aid to Burma after the pro-democracy movement in 1988 was crushed. Morita said the ADB's last loan to Burma was in 1988 whereas previously, the bank has supplied an average of US$ 40-50 million per project to the Burmese government. Burma has to have a market-based foreign exchange rate in order to receive ADB's support. This will enable the bank to calculate the cost and beneficial returns for funding projects. "Unless the foreign exchange rate is on the international market's "demand and supply" list, we really cannot assess the financial and economic feasibility of the projects. We can not calculate whether the projects are likely to be profitable", Morita said. Current official foreign exchange rate in Burma is that of one dollar to six kyat, while it trades at 100 kyat in the black market. Morita said the ADB and the international community on various occasions have raised the issue with the Burmese government. Meanwhile, Brig Gen David Abel, Burma's Minister of National Planning and Economic Development, said Burma has successfully sought funding totalling USS 500 million to help implement the Yandana natural gas project. But he refused to reveal the source of the funding. As for the Salween hydropower scheme, Abel said the project is still at square one. -------------------------------------------------------------- Burmese to be sent home as battles eases BKK Post/ APRIL 26 A Joint Thai-Burmese Border Committee has agreed for the first time to repatriate Burmese refugees detained in Ranong province to Victoria Point in the next few days. Chairman of the committee Lt Gen Surachet Dechatiwong told the reporters the repatriation would only be approved in areas where the situation returned to normal to make sure refugees are safe. The Committee chose to send the refugees in Ranong because the fighting has ceased across the border. But uncertainty opposite Mae Sot District in Tak has prompted authorities to halt a plan to repatriate refugees in the province. A survey showed there are more than 53,000 Burmese refugees in Tak. Lt Gen Surachet said the Army still has to increase patrols along the border area in Tak. The Committee has not yet discussed details of a plan to reopen border passes, he said. -------------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of different topics related to Burma. The scope of the subjects involved is simply too broad for any one person to cover. BurmaNet is therefore organizing a number of volunteer coordinators to field questions on various subjects. 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