Wired News on Feb. 22, '95

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on February 22, 1995
---------------------------------------------------------------

Burma says Karen splinter faction took base   

    By Sutin Wannabovorn 

    MAE SOT, Thailand, Feb 22 (Reuter) - Burma's state television said a
Karen guerrilla splinter faction captured the last Karen stronghold,
contradicting reports by guerrilla and Thai army officers that Burmese
military were responsible. 

    The television, in a broadcast monitored here late on Tuesday, made no
mention of Burmese army involvement in the offensive, saying only Democratic
Kayin (Karen) Buddhist Army (DKBA) faction members seized the guerrilla camp
at Kawmoora. 

    ``The DKBA started the operation on February 8 and today (Tuesday) they
occupied Kawmoora,'' state-run television said. 

    The government broadcast contradicted Thai army and guerrilla officers
who said the offensive was mounted by the Burmese army. 

    Karen National Union (KNU) guerrillas abandoned Kawmoora on Tuesday
morning after an intense bombardment which the guerrillas claimed included
debilitating chemical shells. 

    Thai army officers monitoring the fighting said seven Burmese army
battallions, or about 3,000 troops, plus an extensive battery of Burmese army
heavy weapons, were deployed against the 1,000 defenders of Kawmoora. 

    The guerrillas captured and displayed Burmese army battalion flags and
documents, as well as Burmese army weapons after beating back an attack on
Kawmoora on February 8 in which more than 50 Burmese soldiers were killed. 

    But both Thai army and guerrilla sources said said the Burmese force was
joined by scores of DKBA fighters. 

    Kawmoora was the guerrillas' last major defensive stronghold after the
loss of their headquarters at Manerplaw on January 27. 

    The DKBA was formed in December by some 500 rank-and-file Buddhist
guerrillas who mutinied against majority-Christian KNU leadership. 

    The mutineers later acted as guides, leading Burmese forces through
rugged mountains to Manerplaw and providing the Burmese army with what the
KNU said was the key to the capture of their headquarters. 

    Burma's ruling military body later said it was the DKBA that captured
Manerplaw and made no mention of any Burmese army troops in the attack. 

    Guerrilla sources said on Tuesday that a volunteer soldier from Japan was
among the the Karen casualties at Kawmoora. 

    A Karen officer said a Japanese man he identified as Tsutomu Imaei, who
was fighting alongside KNU guerrillas, was hit by shrapnel and killed in a
Burmese army attack on February 8. 

    Two other Japanese volunteers were believed to be among the 1,000
guerrillas who abandoned Kawmoora and crossed into Thailand on Tuesday, the
guerrilla said. 

    The Karen fighters were disarmed by Thai forces and sent back across the
border into Burma to an area still under guerrilla control. 

    ``As of last Friday two Japanese were still in Kawmoora but for now I
think they have moved to a mobile Karen base elsewhere in the jungle,'' the
Karen officer met on the border told Reuters. 

    Several Japanese volunteers had trained the guerrillas over the past two
years but some of them had since returned to Japan, he said. 

    ``They are very good as snipers and saboteurs and trained in guerrilla
warfare tactics,'' said the Karen source, who declined to be identifed or
provide further details. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-22 02:50:19 EST
*********

Burma's top leader to visit Vietnam   

    HANOI, Feb 22 (Reuter) - Burma's leader General Than Shwe will visit
Vietnam next month to promote relations and learn from Hanoi's
market-oriented economic reforms, a Burmese official said on Wednesday. 

    ``We are planning the visit in the second week of March. It is a return
visit to Vietnam to study what their open door policy is and (how) the
renovation works,'' said Thant Kyaw, first secretary of the Burmese embassy
in Hanoi. 

    Dates for Than Shwe's five-day visit to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were
still being arranged, he added. 

    Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet held talks with Than Shwe, Chairman
of Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and prime
minister, during his first visit to Burma last May. 

    Both countries, once isolated, are building new relations in Southeast
Asia. 

    Vietnam will join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand, next July. Diplomats believe Burma may seek to join ASEAN later. 

    During Kiet's Rangoon visit, the two sides signed agreements to promote
tourism and trade and to set up a joint cooperation commission. 

    Kyaw said Rangoon and Hanoi were seeking agreements on culture, civil
aviation and cooperation against the narcotics trade but it was not known
whether any would be signed during Than Shwe's visit. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-22 01:31:55 EST
*********

Burma seeks foreign investment to help privatise   

    BANGKOK, Feb 22 (Reuter) - The Burmese government is seeking foreign
investors to help privatise 51 state enterprises in various sectors, Thai
newspapers reported on Wednesday. 

    Burma's ambassador to Thailand U Tin Winn said a privatisation committee
was set up last month to give initial approval to investment proposals, the
papers reported. 

    ``The foreign investors joining the programme will be exempted from
machinery import tariffs and can fully remit their profits back to their home
countries,'' The Nation newspaper quoted Tin Winn as saying. 

    The Burmese government has earmarked 51 enterprises in energy, food,
garment and other sectors for privatisation. 

    Tin Winn said total foreign investment in Burma as of January was about
$2.377 billion, and was made up of 119 projects. 

    France has the biggest investment stake in Burma, followed by Singapore
then Thailand.  REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-22 00:41:47 EST
***********

Thai refugee burden eases, though still costly   

    BANGKOK, Feb 22 (Reuter) -  The refugee burden for Thailand, long a haven
for citizens of troubled neighbours, has eased considerably despite a recent
influx from Burma, refugee officials said on Wednesday. 

    But Thailand says even the smaller number of refugees drains on precious
resources that should be devoted to improving the life of its own citizens. 

    Up to 10,000 ethnic minority Karen people from Burma have fled to
Thailand since mid-December when Burmese government forces launched an
offensive against autonomy-seeking Karen guerrillas in the southeast of the
country. 

    The arrivals have pushed the total number of displaced people from Burma
in Thailand to 80,000, said Ruprecht Von Arnim of the Bangkok office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

    But despite the influx, the refugee burden for Thailand is lighter now
than it has been for two decades. 

    ``They used to have 350,000 Cambodians on their soil. They had up to
80,000 Laotians on their soil,'' Von Arnim told Reuters. 

    Senior Foreign Ministry official Pondej Worachet said the burden for
Thailand was still significant. 

    ``It's still a heavy burden for us. You can't just compare the figures
with the past,'' he said. ``Now every country is trying to develop its
economy and devote resources to growth. If we didn't have this refugee burden
it would be much better for us.'' 

    The United Nations-supervised repatriation of Cambodians from camps along
the Thai border was one of the highlights of the U.N.'s involvement in that
country. 

    Between March, 1992, and March, 1993, 350,000 Cambodians returned to
their homeland, just in time to take part in U.N.-supervised elections there.


    There are now just 15 Cambodian refugees left in Thailand, according to
the latest UNHCR figures. 

    The total number of people from Laos, many of whom fled to Thailand after
the 1975 victory of communist forces there, now stands at a little more than
13,000. 

    Most of the refugees from Laos are from the Hmong ethnic minority and
supported a U.S.-backed guerrilla force that battled Laotian communists
during the Vietnam War. 

    There are 6,352 Vietnamese asylum seekers still in Thailand, the lowest
figure in years. 

    The majority of people from Burma in camps in Thailand are from
minorities and have fled Burmese army offensives against autonomy-seeking
minority guerrillas since 1984. 

    In 1988 they were joined by many young people and dissidents from Burma's
towns and cities who escaped a sweeping crackdown by the Burmese military
against pro-democracy protests. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-22 08:52:13 EST
*************
----------------------------------------------------------END.