Business Day: Khun Sa on Trial

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Myanmar to Put Khun Sa On Trial and Frustrate US

Business Day, Bangkok, January 16 1996.

     MYANMAR will put warlord Khun Sa
     on trial on its own soil and will not
     extradite him to stand trial in the United
     States as demanded by the US
     Administration, a source close to the
     Myanmar leadership told Business Day
     over the weekend.

     "The Americans will not be able to get
     him," said the source, when asked
     whether Khun Sa will be extradited. He
     added, however, that Khun Sa will be
     brought to trial in Myanmar soon.

     Assistant Secretary of State for East
     Asia and the Pacific, Winston Lord, has
     demanded that Khun Sa be detained and
     extradited to stand trial for drug
     trafficking in the United States. During
     his stop-over in Bangkok over the
     weekend, Mr Lord also said that
     Myanmar needs to co-operate in human
     rights and narcotics suppression if it
     wants to improve ties with Washington. 

     The source said that State Law and
     Order Restoration Council (SLORC) is
     working out terms of surrender with
     Khun Sa. He noted that Khun Sa may
     get a jail sentence of at least three years
     and be granted an amnesty shortly after
     his sentence is handed down.

     "Khun Sa will be jailed in Mandalay
     prison for a short time [before his
     release]," he said. Khun Sa was jailed in
     Mandalay once in the early 1970s.

     "Slorc believes if they get rid of Khun Sa,
     there will be another [warlord] like him,
     and yet another," said the source. 

     Khun Sa, who is living in his
     headquarters in Ho Mong near the
     Thai-Myanmar border, earlier this
     month surrendered to the Burmese
     authorities along with thousands of his
     troops.

     The source said Slorc has returned light
     arms to Khun Sa and his men to protect
     themselves against tribes hostile to them.
     The Myanmar military, however, kept
     such heavy weaponry as rocket launchers
     and surface-to-air missiles. Apart from
     Khun Sa, the source believed other
     factions fighting the central government
     such Wa and Kokanes are in the process
     of giving themselves up.