------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 15th May 1995 Issue #172 -------------------------------------------------------------- Contents: NATION: GOVT SAID TO BE CONSIDERING SENDING TOP OFFICIAL TO RANGOON NATION: SURIN HITS BACK AFTER BURMA'S ALLEGATIONS NATION: ARMY NETS HUGE WEAPONS HAUL AFTER RAIDING TWO KAREN CAMPS NATION: KAREN CAMP RAID YIELDS MORE ARMS ABSDF: THANKS GIVING LETTER TO INDIAN GOVERNMENT -------------------------------------------------------------- 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. -------------------------------------------------------------- ===== item ===== GOVT SAID TO BE CONSIDERING SENDING TOP OFFICIAL TO RANGOON 13.5.95/The Nation The government will step up diplomatic efforts with Rangoon to ease tension along the frontier with Burma following the failure of low-key talks and protest notes to curb border incursions , informed government sources said yesterday . The Foreign Ministry is considering sending a senior official to Rangoon to clear up misunderstandings and discuss ways to resolve the problem. The move was discussed during a two hour meeting on Thursday with the ministries concerned which was called by the National Security Council [NSC] to review the situation, the source said. " The protest note might not be enough as the [Burmese ] ambassador could only act as messenger between governments and might not have any real authority ," he added . The Foreign Ministry has filed eight protests against the repeated violent border incursions, which include burning the camps of Karen refugees in Thailand and the killing of three Thai policemen last week. Deputy Foreign Ministry Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday he was not aware of any plans to send a senior person to Rangoon. An informed source at the Foreign Ministry said the ministry had to be very careful in initiating high -level dialogue with Rangoon. " If this is going to happen, we will not talk to the press first, " said the source. NSC chief Charan Kullavanijaya yesterday confirmed that he had called a meeting on Thursday meeting to review and evaluate efforts to settle the border problem . The meeting followed Tuesday's issuing of a letter by Rangoon accusing Thailand of continuing to lodge and arm the Burmese ethnic insurgency against the Burmese government . " The letter is an indication of whether or not Burma wants to befriend us." Charan said . He did not elaborate . The letter , which also accused that Thai military of causing injury to " innocent civilians " during its reprisals against Army [DKBA] last week , was passed to a Thai military attache in Rangoon by his Burmese counterpart. The same letter was conveyed to the Foreign Ministry by Rangoon's ambassador to Thailand , U Tin Win, who called on Deputy Permanent Foreign Secretary Saroj Chavanavirat on Tuesday . It was later made available to the press. The letter accused Thailand of continuing to support the Karen National Union and drug warlord Khun Sa, but ended on a positive note saying the two nation's armies still had good relations. The Thai Army has been widely accused of being indecisive in its handling of the border situation, leading to the escalation. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said on Thursday he would call a meeting next week of ministers handling border problems to discuss whether the existing Thai-Burmese joint border mechanism is an effective negotiating body. Border areas in Mae Hong Son and Tak provinces were still tense yesterday, although there were no further incidents. School teachers said they were uncertain whether 10 school in Sop Moei would open as scheduled next Tuesday, border authorities said. Tak Deputy Government Phoolchai Niamwattana said the joint security forces remained on full alert along the border as the Burmese army had moved 300 troops from Myawadi to the area opposite Ban Phayaw in Mae Sot district . Another 400, backed with heavy weapons, had reinforced the area opposite Mae Ramaad district. ===== item ===== SURIN HITS BACK AFTER BURMA'S ALLEGATIONS 13.5.95/The Nation The Foreign Ministry yesterday strongly criticized as " incorrect and unacceptable " recent allegations by Rangoon that Thailand is harbouring anti-Burma terrorists and supporting drug traffickers. The ministry totally rejects allegations by Burma's ministry of defence which could imply that Thailand has allowed Burmese insurgents , including drug warlord Khun Sa, to hide here and to travel in and out of the country and implement anti-government activities, Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan said. Thailand and Burma have been engaged in border conflicts after incursions by a Karen splinter group which attacked Karen refugee camps in Tak and Mae Hong Son provinces. Rangoon's defence ministry , in a statement issued by its embassy here, alleged that the border problems occurred because Thailand has been harbouring the terrorists. " The problems that have occurred on the Thai-Myanmar [Burma] border are a consequence of Thailand having harboured for various reasons terrorists who seek to oppose Myanmar," the statement said. Surin yesterday stressed that Thailand has the absolute right according to internationally -accepted standards and international law to provide shelter for people escaping internal fighting in their homeland. " With its merciful provision of shelter, Thailand should not be accused of providing shelter for anti -government insurgents," Surin said. "It is not important who the refugees are and which side they belong to- anti- government or government .If they flee the fighting into our land , we have to accept them on humanitarian grounds and on a temporary basis. "When the internal situation returns to normal , they will return home on their own , " Surin said. He stressed that the conflict was between Thailand and Burma and that Thailand did not want to upgrade the problem to Asean level. Asean groups Brunei , Indonesia, Malaysia , the Philippines , Singapore, and Thailand. The minister also referred to Burma's statements about attacks by Khun Sa, such as one launched through Mae Sai, Thailand , on the Burmese town of Tachilek on Mar 20. The statement said that when the Burmese army launched offensives against the drug traffickers , they were able to take refuge in , and bring reinforcements of manpower and materials through , Thailand. Surin said the international community had recognized Thailand's attempts to suppress drug trafficking and related activities and therefore the criticism from Rangoon was unacceptable. Referring to a recent report that Khun Sa carries a Thai identity card, Surin said if that was true, the identity card would certainly be revoked. He said without elaboration that Thai authorities are considering revoking the ID cards of certain people. ===== item ===== ARMY NETS HUGE WEAPONS HAUL AFTER RAIDING TWO KAREN CAMPS 14.5.95/The Nation MAE HONG SON-- The Army said yesterday it has seized more war weapons in the latest on two Karen refugee camps in Mae Sariang and Sop Moei districts. The operations at Mae Lamaluang and Baan Paumaloo camps on Friday came after the first coordinated raids which netted big caches of arms from four refugee camps in Tak province on Wednesday . The weapons confiscated from the Mae Hong Son camps included 27 AK-47, seven M-16 and eight HK-33 assault rifles, three rocket launchers and a large assortment of ammunition, Col Piboon Boocha, commander of the 35th Border Task Force said. He said the raids were part of efforts to step up security on the border and to reduce tension with the Burmese government and its troops, both of which have accused Thailand of supporting the Karen National Union [KNU]. The colonel said the situation along the Thai-Burmese border was returning to normal after months of incursions by armed insurgents from Burma . Piboon said soldiers had been sent to provide security for people in the areas prone to fighting. He urged people to informs his task force if there was trouble. On Wednesday, about searched Saiko , Baan Huay Manok, Baan Koekoe and Baan Ma Hla camps in Tak's Mae Sot district. They seized five machine guns, four rocket launchers, 29 M-16 assault rifles, four hand grendes and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition. Deputy Army Commander -in -Chief Chettha Thanajaro said yesterday Thailand and Burma still had a good relationship , despite the attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand . He said the Foreign Ministry had asked the Burmese government to produce evidence to back its charges that Thai forces had injured innocent people during reprisal attacks against the renegade Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in Burma. He said it was more appropriate thta the ministry should handle the border issue as soldiers were responsible only for protecting the country's sovereignty . " I do not be believe the situation will get any worse," he said. ===== item ===== KAREN CAMP RAID YIELDS MORE ARMS 15.5.95/The Nation The Thai Army have seized a large amount of weapons during a raid on a Karen refugee camp , the second discovery in four days, the Thai-Burmese border area commander said yesterday . The weapons allegedly belong to Karen National Union guerrillas, Colonel Philbul Burcha said. More than 150 border patrol police and soldiers stormed the Mae Lama Luang Refugee Camp and a nearby village in Mae Hong Son province late on Saturday, and confiscated rocket launchers, sub- machine guns, anti-tank rockets and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition, he said. " We will continue to search for weapons that might be hidden in the refugee camps to demonstrate to the Burmese government that Thailand does not support anti-Rangoon guerrillas," Phibul said. Former officers of the KNU reportedly stored the arms in the two villages which lie opposite Manerplaw -one of the last two KNU strongholds which fell to Rangoon forces earlier this year, he said . That fighting sent some 10,000 Karen across the border, where they joined some 60,000 ethnic people already in Thai refugee camps. About 400 Thai border troops launched the first pre-dawn raids on Wednesday against refugee camps at Huay Ma Noke, Sho Klo, Kler Kho and Mae la in Tak province , south of Mae Hong Son, and a quantity of arms were seized. The searches came after the Burmese government and a Karen splinter group complained that Thailand was harboring anti- Rangoon terrorists. ===== item ===== THANKS GIVING LETTER TO INDIAN GOVERNMENT We would like to express our deep satisfaction and happiness for the highest award of Jawaharlal Nehru of India to our opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Noble Peace Prize Winner. On behalf of the Burmese people, we are doubly very proud of the support of Indian government for our country's freedom and democracy. 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