Media Release (r)

[burma@xxxxxxxxxx]

Attention:  All Friends of Burma
Date:  27 February 1997
Pages:  2 

URGENT ACTION REQUEST

Please see the inclusion

Write/Fax and Ring:

The Hon. Mr. Alexander Downer M.P.
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel:  (06) 277 7500
Fax:  (06) 273 4112

and 

Gen Chavalit Yaungchaiyudh
Prime Minister 
Government House
Nakhorn Pathom Road
Bangkok 10300, Thailand
Fax:  + 66 2 280 1443

to try and do something about the barbaric treatment being metered out
by Thailand and SLORC at this time in the Karen State and on the border.

The Australian Government must believe the population of Australia do
care about the people of Burma and the atrocities they are suffering.

We need yours support,
Yours Faithfully,



U Daniel Aung 
Director

MEDIA RELEASE
27 February 1997	

THAI AUTHORITIES FORCIBLY REPATRIATE 200 REFUGEES TO BURMA

On 25 February, all civilian villages in KNU 4th Brigade were evacuated
as the advancing SLORC?s troops are very close.  Some 5,000 refugees
fled the ongoing offensive by SLORC.  After everyone crossed into
Thailand, 9th Division of Thai army separated the women/children from
the men.  The women/children were trucked to somewhere in Ratchaburi
Province -- away from the border, and the men were all forcibly
repatriated and told to fight the SLORC on their own territory.  The men
were warned that they would be arrested and deported to Three Pagodas
Pass if they did not return to Burma.

Without any alternative, the men were forced to leave their families on
the border and return to Burma, leaving the women and children in a
vulnerable state.  Most of these men were not soldiers. About 500 men
were forced back to Htee Kee, the headquarters of KNU 4th Brigade area,
in southern Burma where the fighting has been intensified. They are
under life-threatening condition because nobody knows what is going to
happen to them if/when they are captured by the SLORC?s troops.

SLORC troops are presently advancing up the Tenasserim River to Htee Kee
and have forced some 5,000 civilians to seek refuge at Hway Nam Lum, an
old mine near the Thai border in Kanchanaburi Province.

Moreover, SLORC troops near the Thai border have forced another 5,000
civilians to take refuge in Bon Ti village, near Sai Yoke National Park
in Kanchanaburi. The refugees there were reportedly separated and an
unknown number of men were sent back across the border into the war
zone.  

The entire area has been sealed off by the Thai military, Border Patrol
Police and para-military, and no NGOs have been allowed to provide
assistance to the refugees. 

On 25 February, the soldiers at the Thai Army checkpoint near Pu Nam
Rawn refused to allow US embassy officials access to visit the
refugees.  The US embassy officials were also denied access to Bong Ti
village, in Amphur Sai Yoke, Kanchanaburi.

Even if the SLORC captures the KNU military bases in 4th Brigade, people
hiding in the jungle will continue to try to make their way out over the
next few months, and it will be an absolute travesty if all men are
pushed back by the Thais.

THE BURMESE COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA IS GOING TO STAGE A PROTEST RALLY
OUTSIDE THE THAI EMBASSY IN CANBERRA AT 12:30 P.M. ON 2 MARCH 1997
(SUNDAY).  THE PROTEST WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER DEMONSTRATION IN
FRONT OF THE SLORC?S EMBASSY.  
For details contact:  	Terrell Oung (AYBL) -02 9620 7007 (or)
				The Burma Office