BurmaNet News: Aug 23

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BurmaNet News: August 23, 1994

Contents:

1: CPPSM: MON REFUGEE SHOT BY A LOCAL THAI BORDER PATROL POLICE
2: BURMANET: THE SITUATION IN HALOCKANI
3: REUTERS: BURMESE CHURCH LEADER TO PURSUE BID FOR PEACE
4: BKK POST: BURMESE ISSUE WARNING ON ISLET
5: AFP: BURMA BUYS TWO CHINESE FRIGATES

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CPPSM: MON REFUGEE SHOT BY A LOCAL THAI BORDER PATROL POLICE

(From the forthcoming issue of the CPPSM Newsletter.  The following report
has not yet been published in the Thai press, largely because of concern
about its impact on the already precarious situation of the Mon refugees at
the Halockani Refugee Camp. -editor)


On 13th August at about 9 p.m., a local Thai border patrol police, as 
he was drunk, opened fire and shot indiscriminately nearby the 
present makeshift shelter of the 6000 Mon refugees who fled a 
recent attack of Burmese troops. As a consequence, a 28-year-old 
Mon man Nai Kyi Aung was shot in the chest and got a fatal 
wound. The Thai policeman is said to have been infuriated by his 
unsuccessful rape attempts on two Karen girls in the refugee camp 
shortly before, which is believed to have led him to the 
intentional shooting.

According to local Mon refugee sources, the Thai policeman in 
question, accompanied by another Thai policeman, came in to the 
abandoned Halockhani camp over the border in the Burmese soil 
and attempted to rape the two Karen girls, Ma San aged 20 and 
Ma Khin Yi aged 17, who were deported by Thai immigration 
authorities in the earlier week and at the time staying therein. Nai 
Kyi Aung (the victim of the shooting), Ma Hla Aye (another girl 
aged 18),  Ma Moe (another girl aged 20) and Maung Soe 
Moe(another man aged 26) are said to be together with Ma San 
and Ma Khin Yi (the two rape victims) during the rape attempts of the two
Thai police. According to the two rape victims and the 
three witnesses, one of the Thai police opened his pant's zipper and 
grabbed Ma San to rape, while the other aimed his gun at them. 
Ma San consistently refused to co-operate with the police. They 
blew off the light for the two policemen to loose sight. But the 
policemen continued to rape, looking for the girls by their torch 
light. Ma San managed to escape and the police attempted to rape 
Ma Khin Yi again. Nai Kyi Aung and Maung Soe Moe ran to inform 
to a headman of the refugee camp, while Ma Hla Aye called the 
people nearby for help. Eventually, the rape attempts of the two 
Thai police were unsuccessful as many refugees in the camp came 
to prevent them.

The two Thai policemen are said to be from the nearby checkpoint 
of the Border Patrol Police. Nai Kyi Aung with the serious bullet 
wound is still hospitalized at the Kwai River Christian Hospital in 
Sangkhlaburi District. Both the Mon refugees and the Mon National 
Relief Committee have, however, been reluctant to reveal this 
information to the press in fear of more pressure from the local 
Thai BPP in pushing back the 6000 Mon refugees currently 
seeking a makeshift shelter at the Thai side of the border as their 
Halockhani camp over the border has been attacked by Burmese 
troops recently.
_________________________

[Editor's note: The above report appears to be accurate with at least one
serious exception, which may have been an error in translation.  The shooting
victim, Nai Kyi Aung, did not die.  He is in hospital in Sangklaburi District
and is expected to recover.  Independent interviews with Nai Kyi Aung, camp
leaders and witnesses bear out most of CPPSM's version of the story.  A more
detailed report will be posted later.

The purpose of the Committee for the Publicity of the People's Struggle in
Monland (CPPSM) is self-evident from their name.  The group has produced some
of the best photographic evidence to date of forced labor and forced
relocations from inside Burma.]

**************************************************************
BURMANET: THE SITUATION IN HALOCKANI

As of late last week, the impasse at Halockani Refugee Camp remains little
changed.  Thai Border Patrol Police, on orders from the Ninth Army Division
and National Security Council, have blockaded the camp.  No deliveries of
food or water are being allowed in and for the most part, people are not
allowed in or out.  The only exceptions to this are those deemed extremely
ill and an occasional press visitor brought in by Thai authorities.  On
Thursday last, the Reuters correspondent was flown in and spent about an hour
in the camp.

Water is not a major problem in the camp because it is the rainy season and
rain-water catchment tanks have been rigged up.  Lack of food is not an
immediate threat because rice, fishpaste and salt were stockpiled prior to
the rainy season.  However, supplies may run out before the rainy season ends
in part because of the large number of "illegal immigrants" being deported
through Halockani.

Halockani is Thailand's major deportation site for sending people back to
Burma.  There is a pipeline of people that begins at the Immigration
Detention Center (IDC) in Bangkok, carries people to and Kanchanaburi IDC and
then dumps them at Halockani for their "return" to Burma.  In practice,
brokers from Sangklaburi District meet the deportees and arrange their
passage back to Thailand.  The going rate for passage is 3500 baht ($160US)
and the trade is done with the consent of local police, who receive 2500 baht
for each returnee.  For each of the last two weeks, approximately 600
deportees have been sent through Halockani and about 70% of them have already
begun their journey back to Bangkok and other parts of Thailand.  Most of the
rest have headed back to Burma or are waiting it out on the border.  Some 200
of these IDC deportees are currently in "Old Halockani," the part of the camp
abandoned by the Mon refugees after the July 21 attack by the Burmese army.

Eight Bangkok-based journalists were able to walk into Halockani last
Thursday through trails in the jungle.  This was done without obtaining
permission and involved a nine-hour trek through the jungle.  Most stayed one
day, others for two.  On their departure, Thai BPP officers told them not to
return without permission from the 9th Division.

**************************************************************
REUTERS: BURMESE CHURCH LEADER TO PURSUE BID FOR PEACE

The head of Burma's Anglican church, back from a "mission of peace" to the
Karen insurgents, said yesterday he hoped formal peace talks would begin
between the military junta and the Karen National Union (KNU).

Archbishop Andrew Mya Han said he met KNU leader Bo Mya and his senior
colleagues on August 11 at their Manerplaw headquarters on the Thai-Burma
border, with the tacit agreement of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council.

Hr described the three-hour meeting as "lively and positive:, and he said a
second meeting was likely some time in the third week of September.  

Archbishop Mya Han, who returned here August 15, said he had already given a
SLORC representative a detailed account of the meeting.

"There appears to be a desire to meet with each other on both sides, and I
hope my initiative will lead towards the first step in that direction," he
said, speaking by telephone.

Mya Han said he had taken on the task of "mediator": because of the sorrowful
plight he had seen among the lower ranks of the KNU, who were living a life
of fear and uncertainty.

"I hope I can take back some good news to the other side when I go back next
month," he said.

Mya Had said he undertook the "mission of peace" because he estimated at
least half of Bo Mya's officers and an even larger percentage of his lower
ranking fighters are of the Anglican faith.  Bo Mya himself is a Seventh-Day
Adventist.


**************************************************************
BKK POST: BURMESE ISSUE WARNING ON ISLET
Post: August 20, 1994

The Burmese military in Myawaddy has warned Thai officials and civilians not
to encroach on an islet in the middle of the Moei River, as such a move might
cause a misunderstanding and even fighting.

The 340-rai islet used to be part of Ban Kon Kane in Tambon Mahawan but
became detached with the Moei River's strong current created a new river
channel.

The Burmese warning was contained in a letter given to Maj-Gen. Boonlue
Chittavibul, chairman of the Local Thai-Burmese Border Committee by his
Burmese counterpart, Lt. Col Than Soe, on Wednesday.

The letter said the islet which was created after the Moei River changed its
direction towards the Burmese camp of Palu is regarded as joint Thai-Burmese
territory.

It also said that Burmese officials and civilians had not ventured on to the
islet and they expected the Thais to do likewise.

Earlier, Thana Dungrat, deputy director-general of the Treaty and Legal
Affairs Department, who visited the border area on Aug 10 ruled that the
islet belongs to Thailand because the old river channel was still visible.

**************************************************************
AFP: BURMA BUYS TWO CHINESE FRIGATES
August 20, 1994

Burma has bought two frigates from China capable of being fitted with ground-
to-air missiles in a move to modernise its navy, the military specialist
magazine Jane's Defence Weekly reported in its latest issue Thursday.

Jane's said it did not know when the frigates were to be delivered or whether
China had agreed to arm them with the missiles.

Burma is the only state in the regions whose navy does not possess such
equipment, the weekly noted.

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