Wired News on Feb.13 & 14, '95

[aung@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on February 13 & 14, 1995 
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U.N. envoy unable to see Burma's Nobel prize winner   

    UNITED NATIONS, Feb 13 (Reuter) - Alvaro de Soto, a U.N. assistant
secretary-general, said on Monday he was refused permission to see Burma's
Nobel peace prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, by the military government during
his recent visit to the southeast Asian country. 

    ``They regretted that they were unable to accede to my request,'' said de
Soto, who returned over the weekend after leading a delegation to Yangon to
discuss human rights and other issues with the government of Burma, known as
Myanmar. 

    Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali intends to submit a report
shortly to the U.N. Human Rights Commission as requested by a General
Assembly resolution late last year. 

    Diplomats said de Soto was sent to Burma to see if there the government
could be persuaded to take some action that would acceptable to the
international community. 

    Burma's ruling military body, the State Law and Order Restoration Council
(SLORC), has been largely shunned by the world for its crushing of a
democracy uprising in 1988 that left many dead. It has held Aung San Suu Kyi,
leader of the 

 National League for Democracy, under house arrest in Rangoon since July
1989. 

    A U.N. statement said de Soto met government leaders on human rights and
Burma's policy of ``reconciliation with the national races.'' It said talks
would resume in the spring when the country's foreign minister, Ohn Gyaw,
visits New York. 

    The U.N. delegation was in Burma while the army continued its offensive
against ethnic guerrillas, which has sent refugees fleeing over the border to
Thailand. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-02-13 23:44:03 EST
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Karen refugees said ``living in fear'' of faction   

    By Robert Birsel 

    BANGKOK, Feb 14 (Reuter) - A breakaway Karen guerrilla faction has
launched a campaign of fear among Karen refugees in Thailand in an attempt to
erode the civilian support base for the main Karen National Union (KNU),
relief workers and Karen sources said on Tuesday. 

    Members of the newly-formed Democratic Kayin (Karen) Buddhist Army (DKBA)
have crossed into Thailand and forced people back at gunpoint, looted
supplies and threatened to ``destroy'' those who remain in the Thai camps,
the sources said. 

    ``People are very frightened, they are so scared now,'' one border relief
worker told Reuters. 

    The DKBA was formed in December by about 500 rank-and-file Buddhist
guerillas who mutinied against the Christian-dominated leadership of the KNU
but no senior civilian or military KNU leaders have so far joined the
breakaway group. 

    Last Thursday six armed DKBA members kidnapped a senior KNU official from
a camp in Thailand and forced him and one other KNU member back across the
border into government-controlled territory. 

    The official, Mahn Yin Sein, is one of the most senior Buddhist leaders
in the KNU and while the reason for the kidnapping was not known there was
speculation the DKBA and Burmese military authorities wanted to convince him
to join them and help them attract refugees back from Thailand. 

    ``Presumably they felt that (the kidnapping) was the only way to
demonstrate he's on their side,'' said one KNU source. 

    In another incident a group of DKBA members crossed the border into a
refugee camp last Sunday and stole hundreds of sacks of rice and then forced
more than 100 people back across the border into their zone of control, one
relief worker said. 

    Earlier this month they lobbed several shells into another refugee camp
on the Thai side of the Salween river causing no injuries but sparking a
rapid evacuation of the site deeper into Thai territory, relief workers said.


    ``They want to chase the refugees away from the border, either back into
Burma or deeper into Thailand,'' said one of the relief workers who declined
to be identified. 

    Leaflets have also been appearing on the border promising returnees land,
rice supplies and peace and tranquility while warning that plans have been
made to ``destroy'' the Thai camps and all those who remain in them, the
sources said. 

    While there has been a trickle of refugees back into Burma from camps in
Thailand during recent weeks, most of them family of DKBA members, relief
workers said the majority of Buddhist refugees did yet not want to return. 

    The KNU, in a statement issued on Tuesday, asked Thai authorities to
ensure the safety of Karen refugees. 

    ``The KNU appeals to the Thai government to take appropriate measures to
ensure that (Burmese government) troops and DKBA followers are not able to
use their arms to harass Karen refugees,'' the KNU said. 

    About 6,000 Karen refugees fled to Thailand following the capture of the
KNU's headquarters by government troops assisted by DKBA members on January
27, taking the total number of displaced Karens living in a string of Thai
border camps to almost 60,000. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-02-14 05:40:31 EST

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