------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: August, 1995 HEADLINES: ========== THE NATION: REBEL LEADER FLIES TO RANGOON FOR TALKS BKK POST: THAI-BURMESE CONFLICT EXPECTED TO END SOON ---------------------------------------------------------- Produced with the support of the Burma Information Group (B.I.G). The BurmaNet News is an electronic newspaper covering Burma. Articles from newspapers, magazines, newsletters, the wire services and the Internet as well as original material are published. The BurmaNet News is e-mailed directly to subscribers and is also distributed via the soc.culture.burma and seasia-l mailing lists and is also available via the reg.burma conference on the APC networks. 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Sutcliffe" World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com Volunteering: Dr. Christina Fink c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org [Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage] ---------------------------------------------------------- ===== item ===== REBEL LEADER FLIES TO RANGOON FOR TALKS 24 August 1995, THE NATION TOP ethnic Mon guerrilla leader Nai Shwe Kyin left yesterday for Burma after nearly five decades fighting for autonomy from the Rangoon government. Nai Shwe Kyin and two other leading members of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) flew from Bangkok to Rangoon on a Myanmar Airway International flight. The group was to join another large entourage of top NMSP leaders who left Bangkok for Rangoon on Monday. After repeated invitations extended by the ruling Burmese State Law and Other Restoration Council (Slorc), the octogenarian leader eventually decided to make the trip after having consulted members of the NMSP central committee. Meanwhile, a Reuter report quoting guerrilla sources yesterday said leaders of Burma's Karen National Union (KNU), one of the world's oldest rebel groups, would hold preliminary ceasefire talks with the ruling military government next week. KNU leader General Bo Mya is to lead a five-man delegation to Pa-an, the capital of southeastern Burma's Karen state, to meet representatives of the ruling Slorc, a senior Karen source told Reuters. A senior NMSP official, who requested anonymity, told The Nation in an interview yesterday that Nai Shwe Kyin's itinerary was being finalized by the seven member NMSP advance team and the Slorc, but that he and other top Mon leaders would certainly meet with Slorc leader Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, who initiated ceasefire talks with armed ethnic groups. A meeting with Slorc Chairman Gen Than Shwe was highly possible. The official said it is Nai Shwe Kyin's first visit to Rangoon since 1963, when he led a Mon delegation to peace talk with the government of Gen Ne Win, and also his first family reunion with his wife and son who now live in Waw, a small town north of Pegu. Although Nai Shwe Kyin's actual programme was not known at interview time, the official said the Mon leader would likely travel to Moulmein, Burma's Mon State capital, where he would meet and address the Mon population. Nai Shwe Kyin, who joined the Mon guerrilla movement in 1948, is widely respected by the Mon populace on both sides of the border-those inside Burma and the big Thai Mon community in Thailand. The NMSP and the Slorc began their peace dialogues in December 1993 and the two reached a ceasefire agreement on June 29 this year. The official said the visiting NMSP team and the Slorc would hold their first post-ceasefire negotiations on various issues including joint border development programmes in the Mon State, bilateral trade and economic activities, health and education projects and a resettlement plan for about 10,000 Mon refugees in newly designated villages. The ethnic group and Rangoon would try to finalize their plan to establish an NMSP liaison office in several towns in Moulmein, Mergui, Thanbyuzayat, Three Pagodas Pass and Ye to facilitate bilateral contacts and communications. The Mon group would also urge the Slorc to open tripartite dialogues with Burmese political parties led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and over a dozen armed ethnic groups, most of whom have entered a truce deal with Rangoon, added the official. Apart from Nai Shwe Kyin, other NMSP leaders in the advance team include Nai Htin, the NMSP vice chairman who led the Mon delegation to the ceasefire agreement in June, Nai Tin Aung, secretary for the trade and economic committee; and Brig Gen Naing Aung Naing, the vice secretary for the central military committee. (TN) THAI-BURMESE CONFLICT EXPECTED TO END SOON 24 August 1995, Bangkok Post THE conflict between Thailand and Burmese over the brutal killing of Burmese crewmen allegedly by Thai fishermen is expected to end soon. The murder of three Burmese crewmen occurred after Burmese authorities had boarded the JV44, owned by the Myanmar Narong Comany, to seize prohibited fishing equipment and revoke its fishing agreement between Thailand and Burma. The Burmese then ordered the temporary closure of the Thai-Burmes border and also revoked fishing concessions provided to other Thai companies fishing in its waters. Fishery Department Director-General Plodprasop Suraswasdi said the conflict is expected to ease after the NCC Asian Fishery Co's Managing Director Praphan Chatroon undertakes his planned negotiations on compensation with the victim's relatives today. Mr Praphan accepted that since the murder, the company has been badly affected as all its 800 Burmese fishermen had quit and gone to work for other vessels. Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and Deputy Agriculture Minister Monthon Kraiwatnusorn are also scheduled to help clear up the issue with the Burmese Government next month. To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, any companies wishing to fish in overseas waters must apply for fishing licences from the Fishery Department. The regulation might cause some difficulties for the private sector but they should not forget about the heavy losses that the country's fishing industry has suffered since this incident occurred, said Mr Plodprasop. (BP)