The BurmaNet News February 16, 1997

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: February 16, 1997
Issue #640

HEADLINES:
==========
BURMA RELIEF: BORDER UPDATE
KNU REPORT: SITUATION UPDATE ON THE THAI-BURMA BORDER
NEW YORK TIMES:EDITORIAL-BANNING NEW INVESTMENT
THE ASIAN AGE: BURMESE TROOPS FIRE MORTARS AT KAREN
THE ASIAN AGE: THAILAND HOPES SUU KYI WILL SOFTEN STAND
AP: BURMA BORDER FIGHTING EASES
AFP: SUHARTO TO VISIT CAMBODIA, LAOS AND MYANMAR 
REUTER: LAWMAKER URGES BURMA SANCTIONS
STRAITS TIMES: MYANMAR 'A SPANNER IN ASEAN-EU WORKS'
EIS: SUSPENSION OF  BURMA'S  GSP BENEFITS FOR FARM TRADE
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: TOTAL EYES PARTNER'S  BURMA  STAKE
REUTER:  BURMA  WILL CONFORM TO ASEAN WAYS - MALAYSIA
ASIA-PACIFIC NEWS DIGEST: RIFKIND ATTACKS  BURMA  REGIME
KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP: KARENNI (KAYAH) STATE-UPDATE
RANGOON RADIO MYANMAR: FOREIGN MINISTER RETURNS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

BURMA RELIEF: BORDER UPDATE
February 15, 1997
brelief@xxxxxxx

The situation as our information has it:
Sakhandhit (12 Feb) and Chogali (11 Feb) area were already occupied by SLORC
and DKBO.  Htee Kaplae, the headquarters of Gen. Bo Mya fell on 13th of Feb.
(KNU burned it prior to SLORC's arrival). Noh Pha Doh refugee camp near Htee
Kaplae was evacuated but the Thai military did not allow the refugees to
cross at the check point.  On the 13 and 14 of Feb. DKBO and SLORC overran
Azin, Kawee Khlae and four refugee camps on the border.  Many people crossed
and hide in Pai Khlae, south of Kalaw Htaw.  SLORC has begun attacking KNU's
4th brigade area.  About 20,000 to 30,000 displaced people crossed the border.
SLORC movements in Karen State
*	KNU 6th Brigade area
		SLORC Division 101, Strategic Command 1013
		Regiment 252: Kanae Lay and Wal Lay Khee
		Regiment 251: Kyauk Khat, Pha Lu and Mae Htoo Ta Lay
		Regiment 259: On the way from Wal Lay to Thay Paw Bow
		Artillery Force: No. 394
		In the 6th Brigade area -- DKBO regiment 777 and 999 are with SLORC
*	Knu 7th Brigade area: SLORC Division 99
		Three Pagoda Pass area:	SLORC Division 66
		Pha Lu area:			SLORC Division 77
		Kyar In Seik Kyi:		SLORC Division 44
		Magwe and Tavoy Areas: 	SLORC Division 55

***************************************

KNU REPORT: SITUATION UPDATE ON THE THAI-BURMA BORDER
February 15,1997
So_Nou@xxxxxxxxxxxx

The advancing SLORC troops are now occupying most of the KNU held area but
the Karen guerillas are still fighting for their national freedom.Skirmishes
continue every day in the KNU 6th Brigade area where the SLORC troops are
now launching a major offensive. Today in Myawadi, a Burmese town opposite
from Maesot, an eyewitness reported that 100 empty army trucks were seen  sent
back to Paan, a Burmese town  to bring in more troops from SLORC Division 77
to reinforce the present battalions which are now active in the area.
     Another eyewitness reported that a Chinese ship carring military
hardware was seen in Rangoon habour recently. Between January 27 andFebruary
4, heavy 
weapons , tanks, aand armored cars have seen being offloaded from the ship. 
The discharging of the military hardware was done only around midnight and in
the wee hours.
     Fearing of the killing, forced portering ,and looting, the villagers
evacuated  their villages and poured into Thailand every day.More are
expecting to come. The SLORC troops planned to hold on the ground they had
occupied and their goal is to invade the refugee camps and force the refugees
back into Burma. The refugees are now living in fear.
     Yesterday, the KNU battalion 12 Headquarters was under attack.
KNU Information Center

*************************

NEW YORK TIMES:EDITORIAL-BANNING NEW INVESTMENT IN MYANMAR
February 14, 1997

        The Clinton Administration may be nearing a decision point on
Myuanmar, the Southeast Asian nation that has been deformed by a brutal
military dictatorship. When President Clinton's top foreign-policy
advisers take up the issue today, they should recommend activating a ban
on new American investment in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. It would
be an excellent start for Mr. Clinton's new team, and give Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright evidence of American resolve that will be useful
in her visit to China in 10 days.

        The decision should not be difficult. Last July, Congress passed
a bill authorizing a ban on all new American investment if Myanmar's
Government harmed or rearrested the democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
or cracked down on the democracy movement. The law, introduced to
undercut a tougher sanctions bill, was sponsored by Senator Dianne
Feistein, a Democrat, and William Cohen, a Republican and now the
Secretary of Defense. His enthusiasm for invoking the sanctions is doubtful.

        Unhappily, Myanmar has met those conditions. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi
renewed her call for sanctions early this month when she criticized the
Government for the recent arrests of dozens of student activists. She was
held under house arrest in December. The State Department's new human
rights report says that severe repression increased last year.

        American officials also criticize Myanmar's regime for protecting
major opium traffickers, who run business empires and help sustain the
financially weak Government by buying state assets.

        Banning new investment should not impose a hardship on the
American business community. Unocal, which owns part of a gas pipeline
that will provide the Myanmar Government with a major source of hard
currency, is already the largest American investor in Myanmar and one of
few companies increasing its stake. Unocal recently paid the Government
several million dollars for new rights to explore offshore gas deposits.

        Unocal is the shameful exception. Pepsico has just joined a long
list of American and European companies pulling out. They are leaving to
avoid bad publicity and new laws in Massachusetts and several American
cities barring public contracts with companies that do business in
Myanmar.

        Secretary Albright and Bill Richardson, the new United Nations
representative, have both visited Myanmar and met with Mrs. Aung San Suu
Kyi. Their commitment to protecting human rights will seem empty if they
and other senior advisers fail to urge Mr. Clinton to take action against
Myanmar.

**************************************

THE ASIAN AGE: BURMESE TROOPS FIRE MORTARS AT KAREN REBELS
February 16, 1997

Um Phanang (Thailand), Feb. 15: Burmese government troops fired mortars
on Saturday around the area of a captured rebel headquarters as tensions
remained high along Burma's rugged border with Thailand.

Ethnic Karen guerrillas who slipped across the border to buy food from
Thai villagers said that they would not engage the larger Burmese force
head-on and had not returned the mortar fire.

About 20 mortar rounds were fired from the area around Teakaplaw, the jungle
headquarters of the Karen National Union that the Burmese Army overran on
Thursday after the rebels abandoned and set fire to it, Thai Border Police said.

The fall of the base was the biggest defeat for the rebels since the
Burmese Army captured their long-time headquarters of Manerplaw in
December 1994. The current offensive by an estimated 5,000 troops in the
region follows a series of failed peace talks with the military regime.

But the Karens, who have battled Burma's central government for more
autonomy since 1949, say they have shifted to guerrilla tactics since the
loss of Manerplaw and that the fall of their base this week was not as
serious.

"We have been attacked seriously by Burmese forces, but we're OK," said
Htay Aung, 28, a Karen fighter. In the past when they took Manerplaw, it
was very bad, but this time our spirits are high. We can survive."

Htay Aung and a comrade said they left their position around Teakaplaw
early on Saturday and crossed the Thai border to buy food, dried noodles
and fish and high-vitamin drinks for their 11-man section.

They told the associated press that they had about 300 troops in the
area, broken down into small units that would try to regroup when the
Burmese eased the pressure, (AP)

*************************************

THE ASIAN AGE: THAILAND HOPES SUU KYI WILL SOFTEN HER STAND
February 16, 1997

Singapore, Feb. 15: Thailand on Saturday struck back at western criticism of
Asia's Burma policy and said the West should ask Burmese Opposition leader
Aung Sun Suu Kyi to soften her position against Rangoon's military regime.

"The West should also talk to Aung Sun Suu Kyi to tone down her position"
and encourage her to rejoin efforts to draft a new Burmese Constitution,
said Thai foreign minister Prachuah Chaiyasarn.

He was responding to questions from reporters during Saturday's Asia-Europe
Meeting, which has drawn together foreign ministers from 10 Asian countries
and the 15-member European Union.

The Thai minister said the seven-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations -- which will admit Burma as a member -- did not feel pressured to
ask Rangoon to improve its human rights record before accepting it into the
grouping.

He said western nations which apply such pressure also should talk to
Aung Sun Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who heads Burma's
National League for Democracy.

"Everybody, has their own connections and if all of them share the
responsibility on this particular issue then it will be very much welcome,"
he said.

The ministers in Saturday's meeting were expected to tackle the touchy
issue of whether Burma, whose leaders are banned from visiting EU
nations, can join the Asia-Europe summit after it joins ASEAN.

European nations participating in the meeting, as well as the two-day
ASEAN-EU meeting which preceded it, have raised concerns about Burma's human
rights record and its crackdown on the opposition. ASEAN supports a policy
of "constructive engagement" and does not want to isolate Rangoon. (AFP)

***************************************

AP: BURMA BORDER FIGHTING EASES
February 15, 1997 (abridged)
By JIRAPORN WONGPAITHOON

UM PHANG, Thailand (AP) -- Fighting along the border between Burma and
Thailand tapered off Saturday after Burmese  government troops captured the
headquarters of ethnic Karen rebels and the rebels fled into the jungle.

Thai border police patrolling the rugged frontier reported hearing about 20
mortar rounds fired Saturday morning from the area of Teakaplaw, the former
base of the Karen National Union. No subsequent shelling or gunfire was heard.

The mortars apparently were fired by Burmese government troops in control of
the area. Outnumbered by advancing Burmese government troops, rebels
abandoned the base Thursday after  setting fire to it.

The government has thrown nearly 5,000 troops supported by artillery against
the Karen National Union's 2,700 men along a 225-mile front in eastern Burma.

The Karen National Union has been fighting for autonomy for the Karen people
since 1948. The fall of Teakaplaw was the biggest defeat for the rebels
since the Burmese army captured their previous headquarters at Manerplaw in
December 1994.

Karen officers have said the loss of a fixed basen is less important now
since they shifted to hit-and-run guerrilla tactics after the Manerplaw debacle.

``We have been attacked seriously by Burmese forces, but we're OK,'' said
Htay Aung, a rebel who had slipped across the border into Thailand. ``In the
past when they took Manerplaw, it was very bad, but this time our spirits
are high. We can survive.''

Htay Aung and a comrade said about 300 Karen fighters in the area had broken
up into groups of about a dozen men each and were lying low in the jungle,
waiting for a chance to regroup.

Htay Aung denied Thai media reports that Gen. Bo Mya, the 69-year-old rebel
leader, had fled to Bangkok for medical treatment following Teakaplaw's
fall. He said he had seen the general Friday climbing up hills.

Thai border police prevented reporters Saturday from crossing the border to
Teakaplaw. Police were equipping themselves with rifles and heavy backpacks
for what appeared to be a jungle deployment, but refused to discuss their
operations.

Refugees continued to stream from camps near the border to safer ground
Saturday, fearful of attacks by Burmese troops or Karen renegades allied to
them.

Nearly 3,000 ethnic Karen have fled across the border since the offensive
began Tuesday.

One refugee, who gave her name only as Pawa, said she and 150 other people
living in Teakaplaw had been surprised at the swiftness of the Burmese
advance. They entered Thailand on Wednesday.

``I had to leave when mortar rounds started falling near the village,'' said
Pawa, 45. ``We couldn't take much. We lost all the chickens and pigs we have.''

Pawa and her two children have joined nearly 90,000 Karen and other ethnic
refugees who have lived in camps along the Thai border for years. Thailand
allows refugees entry if they are not armed.

************************************

AFP: SUHARTO TO VISIT CAMBODIA, LAOS AND MYANMAR NEXT WEEK
February 14, 1997

     JAKARTA -- President Suharto will make a week-long visit to Cambodia,
Laos and  Myanmar to discuss economic, bilateral and international issues,
Indonesian State Secretary Moerdiono said here yesterday.

     "The visit will be used by all parties to strengthen bilateral ties,
particularly in economic  and trade co-operation.

     "There will also be an exchange of thoughts on various regional and
international issues," he told reporters at the presidential palace.

     Mr Suharto will be in Cambodia from next Monday to Wednesday, then go
to Laos  until Friday.

     From Laos he will fly to Myanmar where he will stay until Sunday.

     Mr Moerdiono emphasised that Mr Suharto's visit "has nothing to do"
with the three countries' pending membership of Asean.

     Asean announced last December that Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar would be
admitted to the group simultaneously sometime this year, unlike
previous plans of admitting Cambodia and Laos earlier than Myanmar.

     Asean has been subjected to sharp Western criticism over its plans to
admit Myanmar, currently under a military regime frequently accused of
human-rights abuses, as a member.

     Mr Moerdiono said yesterday that during his visit Mr Suharto would
witness the signing of memorandums of understanding for oil in Cambodia, and
one between Citra Lamtoro Gung -- a business group controlled by the
President's eldest daughter, Ms Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana -- and the Union of
Myanmar Economic Holding.

     Indonesia had already begun co-operating with Myanmar in the cement
industry, he  added.

     Indonesia's PT Semen Cibinong said last month that it would invest
US$210 million (S$298 million) in building cement plants in Myanmar.

     Mr Moerdiono said Indonesia would also sign co-operative agreements in
forestry, agriculture and air transport with Laos. -- AFP.

*************************

REUTER: LAWMAKER URGES BURMA SANCTIONS
February 14, 1997

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - A key U.S. lawmaker said Friday that stepped-up
repression in Burma required President Clinton to ban new U.S. investment in
the country.

"Whether the mandated sanctions are appropriate or not, I frankly do not see
how the administration can avoid imposing sanctions on the regime in
Rangoon," Doug Bereuter, chairman of the House Subcommittee on East Asia and
the Pacific, told reporters.

Congress has mandated the president to cut off new investment if Burma's
military rulers harmed, rearrested or exiled pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi or carried out "large-scale" repression against the democratic
opposition. Clinton signed the measure, known as Cohen-Feinstein after its
Senate sponsors, into law last September.

State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns told a regular briefing: "We've
made no decisions yet on whether or not to implement the options available
under (the Cohen-Feinstein) legislation, and we continue to review the
situation. We are concerned at the increasing hostility by the Burmese
government against Aung San Suu Kyi."

Burns declined comment on a New York Times report that Clinton's top foreign
policy advisers were meeting to discuss this very question on Friday.

Bereuter, a Nebraska Republican, told reporters the administration had been
"ignoring" the law, despite what he called deeply troubling repression by
the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, which seized power in
1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in December the SLORC was
carrying out "a kind of rolling repression in which small steps forward
alternate with crackdowns and episodes of intimidation and violence" against
democratic forces.

John Shattuck, the assistant secretary of state for human rights, said last
month that the administration was giving "very, very active consideration"
to imposing new sanctions.

Under current policy, the administration neither encourages nor discourages
U.S. companies from doing business in Burma, whose rulers are already the
target of many U.S. sanctions.

Under pressure from human-rights groups, Pepsico Inc. last month became the
latest U.S. company to pull out of Burma, days before Unocal Corp, the
largest U.S. investor there, said it had signed a deal to expand its
off-shore petroleum prospecting.

Some administration officials have argued against cutting off new investment
because they consider the threat of doing so -- rather than actually doing
it -- as
virtually the sole remaining U.S. tool to shield democratic forces.

"This is one of the last few things we've got," an administation official said.

Bereuter, who spoke to the Washington Roundtable for the Asia-Pacific Press
at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group, said he
personally favored working more closely with the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations to put pressure on the SLORC. ASEAN is comprised of Brunei,
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

**************************************

STRAITS TIMES: MYANMAR 'A SPANNER IN ASEAN-EU WORKS'
February 15, 1997

OUTSPOKEN European Commission vice-president Manuel Marin startled many
Asean and European Union ministers with an outburst on Myanmar on Thursday.

Without mincing his words, he said the EU would face difficulty in signing
new     agreements with Asean if Myanmar joined the grouping this year.

He said given Yangon's poor human rights record and the recent crackdown on
the pro-democracy movement by the military junta, Asean should not be in a
hurry to admit Myanmar until it had taken concrete steps to introduce political
reforms.

The EU Parliament, he told the 22 foreign ministers and a roomful of senior
officials during a closed-door plenary session on Thursday afternoon, would
never extend the Asean-EU cooperation agreement to Myanmar, even if it
became an Asean member.

Conference sources quoted the blunt-talking Mr Marin as saying that it was
inconceivable to let Myanmar sign the agreement in the current
circumstances, as this would be tantamount to changing the Treaty of Rome
which created the
European Community.

Several Asean and EU delegates told The Straits Times that they found his
remarks -- in Spanish -- "very confrontational and tactless".

"They came across like a threat, almost an ultimatum, when he said that
without     Myanmar, the EU could sign several new protocol agreements with
Asean," said an Asean delegate.

"His outburst really spoilt the atmosphere -- just as the meeting was going
so smoothly.  It is a real pity."

European delegates interviewed by The Straits Times conceded that Mr Marin
might have been a tad too forceful in his delivery.  One of them said: "It
is a mistake".

But another said that while his remarks might have rattled the foreign
ministers, they reflected the genuine concern among EU members that
Myanmar's membership in Asean would be a thorn in their long-standing
relationship.

"There is no way that the EU ministers would want to sit down at the same
table and discuss things with Asean members and Myanmar," he said.

 "At the same time, Asean cannot envisage leaving Myanmar out of its
mainstream activities when it is a member.

"Mr Marin's views have been voiced by many EU ministers and they are not out
of tune. He could have perhaps chosen his words more carefully and still
got his message across."

Another EU diplomat, who said he knew Mr Marin well, noted that "he spoke
like a typical Spaniard, with a lot of passion and candour".

"The meeting was going on smoothly -- perhaps too smoothly -- despite the
sharp differences of views on Myanmar. I think Mr Marin was worried that both
sides were being too diplomatic and were not coming to grips with the
seriousness of the problem that Myanmar would pose for Asean-EU ties.

"So he made this wake-up call to jolt everybody's attention to this problem
-- that both sides should consolidate their ties and not be distracted."

Conference delegates also said Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas, who
spoke during the same debate, made it clear that the EU should not put
pressure on Asean to delay Myanmar's membership.

Another Asean diplomat dismissed Mr Marin as being rude, saying: "This is
very un-Asian and makes it harder for us to deal with the EU."

Mr Marin could not be reached for comment.

**********************************

EUROPEAN INFORMATION SERVICE: SUSPENSION OF  BURMA'S  GSP BENEFITS FOR FARM
TRADE IN THE OFFING
February  12, 1997

     The European Commission is likely to approve a proposal in the coming days
recommending the suspension of the trade advantages  Burma (Myanmar)
receives for its agricultural products under the Union's Generalised System of
Preferences. It is acting on the basis of a complaint filed jointly in January
by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the
European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), which argued that GSP benefits
should be ended until the country terminates the routine and widespread use
of forced labour.

    This is only the second time the Commission will have used new powers
granted under the 1994 GSP Regulation to recommend the withdrawing of GSP
benefits. On December 19, after a months-long investigation following a
complaint from the two trade unions, it asked the Council to withdraw  Burma's
access to trade preferences for industrial goods.

    The Commission is planning to ask the Council to consult the European
Parliament on the case, as it did for industrial goods. But is relatively
optimistic that the assembly, given its past Resolutions condemning human
rights abuses in  Burma,  will give its Opinions on both cases quickly so
that the
Council can adopt the Regulations, possibly by the end of February. The Council
has not yet asked the Parliament formally for an Opinion on the suspension of
industrial benefits, but instead seems to be waiting to receive the proposal on
agricultural products before sending them to MEPs for them to consider the two
proposals simultaneously.

    Once adopted, the Regulation on the suspension of GSP benefits for
industrial goods would come into force three days after its publication in the
Official Journal, but goods already en route to the EU would not be affected by
it. It is expected that the Regulation on agricultural products would contain
similar provisions.

    In October 1996, the EU Council approved a ban on entry visas for senior
Burmese military or Government officials and suspended high-level bilateral
Government visits to  Burma.  It also extended an arms and weapons embargo
against  Burma  and confirmed the suspension of non-humanitarian aid and
development programmes.

***************************************

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: TOTAL EYES PARTNER'S  BURMA  STAKE DESPITE US-LED BOYCOTT
February  12, 1997

   The chief of the French oil group Total is ready to move into  Burma  if its
American partner leaves under international pressure, according to an interview
published Wednesday in the Financial Times.

   "If they did have to leave, we could easily find other companies from Asia to
replace them," he told the British newspaper, saying Total might even buy out
its partner, Unocal, itself. 

   The position of Total's president, Thierry Desmarest, is sure to get the
attention of Washington, which is trying to place  Burma  under an international
boycott because of perceived human rights violations.

   "I don't feel there is any benefit in isolating countries," Desmarest said,
defending his position. "We don't feel we're behaving in a wrong way."

   Unocal (Union oil of California) and Total are the two main foreign investors
in  Burma.

   Unocal executives recently assured Total they intend to maintain their
Burmese operation but several other companies, including PepsiCo, Carlsberg
and Heineken have already bowed to political pressure and left.

   The Burmese opposition accuses Total and Unocal of supporting  Burma's
military regime and damaging the environment.

   There is speculation that remaining defiant to Washington foreign policy may
cost Total its United States operations but, as Desmarest points out, these are
relatively unprofitable.

   Asked about Total's investment in other politically sensitive countries such
as Iran, Iraq and Libya, Desmarest acknowledged that "we're a bit more relaxed
about such countries than some of our competitors."

   "It's just that the Lord put the reserves in places that are a bit hot on
political grounds."

   Oil operations of the partners in  Burma  centre around the Badamyar and
SEIN fields. A pipe is currently being built to transport offshore gas
deposits to
the Thai border.

**********************************

REUTER:  BURMA  WILL CONFORM TO ASEAN WAYS - MALAYSIA
February  13, 1997

   Burmese membership of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
will mean that Rangoon becomes more like other nations in the group,
Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Thursday.

   "When  Myanmar (Burma)  becomes a member of ASEAN, it will in a way
conform a lot to the ASEAN ways of doing things," Abdullah told reporters
after a meeting of foreign ministers from the seven-member regional grouping
and the European Union (EU).
 
   "To say that  Myanmar  will remain as it is, irrespective of whether it
becomes a member, I think that is not the view that we can accept."

   In the face of fierce criticism from the West, ASEAN maintains that its
policy of constructive engagement with the military rulers in Rangoon is the
best way to coax reforms from them.

   Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon told reporters in a separate
briefing that some EU countries "issued a veiled threat that it would be
difficult for us to talk if  Burma  is in ASEAN."

   "We just laughed at the threats," Siazon said when asked about the reaction
of the ASEAN ministers.

   The EU should endorse  Burma's  membership in ASEAN, which now groups
Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam, Siazon said.

   "If  Burma  joined ASEAN, they can have a regular forum to raise their
concerns over human rights. Now, they have no forum. How can you influence
 Burma  when you don't have a forum?"

   Abdullah said preparation for  Burma's  entry into ASEAN was going well but
no decision had been made on when this would happen.

ASEAN leaders at an informal summit in Jakarta last December agreed  Burma
would be admitted at the same time as Laos and Cambodia.

   Malaysia, which hosts ASEAN's next annual meeting in July, said it wanted
the new members to join by the end of this year.

***************************************

ASIA-PACIFIC NEWS DIGEST: RIFKIND ATTACKS  BURMA  REGIME
February  13, 1997

Mr Malcom Rifkind, UK foreign secretary, yesterday said  Burma's  military
government was a "nasty, dictatorial regime", as the European Union and the
Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) began talks likely to be
clouded by Rangoon's abuse of human rights.

   Differences of perception towards  Burma  are the biggest obstacle to deeper
ties between the EU and Asean. Asean pursues a policy of "constructive
engagement" towards  Burma  but the EU wants it to apply pressure on Rangoon
to reform. The issue is likely to dominate the two-day EU-Asean meetings
starting in Singapore tomorrow. James Kynge, Singapore

***********************************

KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP: KARENNI (KAYAH) STATE-UPDATE ON RELOCATIONS (KHRG
#97-U2)
February 12, 1997
earth@xxxxxxxxxxx

An Independent Report by the Karen Human Rights Group

Between April and July 1996, SLORC ordered at least 183 villages in Karenni
State, with an estimated total population of 25-30,000 people, to move to
various relocation sites.  The primary intention of SLORC was to cut off all
possibility of civilian support for the Karenni National Progressive Party
(KNPP); SLORC had broken a ceasefire agreement to attack the KNPP in June
1995.  The villages affected cover at least half the entire geographic area
of Karenni.  Some villages were marched at gunpoint to relocation sites
without warning, but most were issued written orders to move within just 7
days or be 'considered as enemies', i.e. shot on sight without question.
[For details see "Forced Relocation in Karenni", KHRG #96-24, 15/7/96.]
Thousands of villagers went to the relocation sites as ordered; others,
particularly those far from SLORC bases, fled into hiding in the forests
surrounding their villages.  Over 3,000 escaped to Karenni refugee camps in
Thailand after a difficult and dangerous walk of days or weeks in rainy
season.  Some fled to parts of Karenni and southwestern Shan states
controlled by the KNPLF (Karenni Nationalities People's Liberation Front)
and SNPLO (Shan Nationalities People's Liberation Organisation), both of
which currently have ceasefires with SLORC.  Since the relocations, SLORC
has still not allowed people to resettle in their home villages or provided
them any assistance, and the situation throughout Karenni continues to grow
increasingly critical.

Villagers could only manage to save as much as they could carry on their
backs, and most of their food, livestock and belongings had to be left
behind.  In some cases even the sick, the elderly and the disabled had to be
left behind to fend for themselves in the abandoned villages because they
could not manage the walk through the mountains and their relatives could
not carry them.  Crippled villagers and sick children were later found by
KNPP columns, hiding alone in villages already burned and destroyed by
SLORC.  In Daw Ei Hla village a 60-year-old blind woman was left alone in
her house with a little food.  Her decomposed remains were later found where
she had fallen in her house and died slowly of starvation.

SLORC provided nothing whatsoever at the relocation sites, and villagers had
been able to bring very little food with them, so in June at Shadaw and
Ywathit SLORC allowed many villagers one last chance to return to their
villages for 7 to 10 days and bring back some food.  Many villagers used
this as a chance to escape into the forest.  Then about one month after the
June deadline for relocation, SLORC troops launched an operation to tour the
villages burning and destroying all that remained of them.  Some villages
were totally burnt down.  In other villages they destroyed the best houses
and the rice barns and killed all the villagers' livestock and cattle. Some
villages were not destroyed but landmines were laid.  In Baw Ghu Der
township, some villagers, both women and men, were later killed by stepping
on these mines.

Thousands of villagers are still living in hiding in groups of 2 or 3
families in the forest.  Most had already planted their rice crop when the
SLORC operation began (rice-growing season is between June and November),
but then they had to spend most of their time hiding from the troops so
their crops were largely destroyed by weeds and pests.  They are now running
completely out of rice with no prospect of planting a crop this year
(normally they would now be clearing their fields in preparation for
planting).  In most villages all their livestock has been destroyed by
SLORC, so they are reduced to surviving on jungle vegetables and roots.
Many, especially children, are dying of malaria, diarrhea, dysentery,
respiratory illnesses, and are also contracting worms and skin diseases.

Thousands of villagers are now living at SLORC-designated relocation sites
including Shadaw, Ywathit, Baw La Keh, Daw Tama Gyi, Tee Po Kloh, Kay Lia,
Nwa La Bo, Maw Chi, and Pah Saung.  Bu Ko and Kwa Chi, initially reported by
KHRG in July 1996 as a relocation site, was burned by SLORC and the
villagers there ordered to move to Maw Chi relocation site.  When the people
arrived in the relocation sites, nothing was prepared for them.  They had to
clear an area designated by the SLORC in order to build a house.  In Shadaw
site, after the villagers had cleared the site the troops decided that the
area would be good for growing beans for the Army, and ordered the people to
clear another place to settle.  After a few months, most of the villagers
had not been able to build a house since bamboo and roofing leaves were hard
to get, especially during the rainy season, and were at a long distance or
had to be bought.  A lot of the villagers were unable to build houses, and
even 6 months later they were still staying in precarious shelters.

On arrival at most of the relocation camps the villagers had to hand over
whatever rice they had to SLORC, and then had rice rationed out to them at 
varying rates; for example, at Maw Chi they received 8 milktins per person
per week (only 1/2 the amount required to feed an average adult).  Even
this distribution only lasted the first 1-2 months, after which there was no
rice left.  In Shadaw, a Roman Catholic priest started distributing rice to
the people but then SLORC ordered him to hand over the rice to them for
distribution.  He refused, as he knew the Army would simply take the rice,
and had to stop.  After there was no more rice, villagers could buy a pass
from the soldiers costing between 2 and 5 Kyats allowing them to be away
from morning until sunset, or in some cases for 2 days, just enough time to
return to their village and bring some food.  People found outside the
relocation site without a pass or with expired passes are beaten.  Even
people with passes have been arrested, beaten and send back to the
relocation sites.

In most of the relocation sites many people are dying of disease; in Shadaw 
an estimated 300 have died, and in Mawchi 100.  The water supply is totally
inadequate and usually dirty.  Every day as many as 3 or 4 die, mostly
children, mainly because of malaria, dysentery and respiratory diseases.
The sites have no clinics.  Even if there is a clinic nearby, nomedicines
are available unless people can go and buy them.  In some sites Catholic
priests were doing their best to treat sick people.  The relocation sites
have no schools.

In most sites the SLORC troops order the people to work for them.  They have
to cut bamboo and wooden posts to build barracks and fences.  In  Shadaw,
Daw Tama Gyi and Tee Po Kloh sites, people are forced to do road
construction work.  They have also been forced to build fences around some
of the relocation camps, to dig trenches and to do labour as sentries. The
sites are concentration camps and people need to get a pass at the sentry
post in order to go in and out.  Landmines have been laid around the camps.
Military defences are especially prevalent at Shadaw, Maw Chi and Ywathit
sites, where SLORC is more afraid of the KNPP.  SLORC have built military
posts inside the relocation sites and have arrested people staying there,
usually charging them with suspicion of having had contact with opposition
groups.  In Tee Po Kloh site, one villager was arrested by the army, sent to
Loikaw and detained in the overcrowded army camp jail for several months.
He was severely beaten. Many villagers who obtain passes and reach their
villages go into hiding, building small shelters in the forest instead of
returning.  They collect food in their village or in the forest to survive.
Most are almost out of rice and will face critical circumstances very soon.
Hundreds of people fled Shadaw, a large relocation site holding several
thousand people, to KNPLF territory near the Shan border and have been
sheltered in various villages. Some have fled across the border of Shan
State and have been staying in SNPLO area but they are now reportedly
returning to their home areas.  Some people fled the Shadaw relocation site
to Loikaw (capital of
Karenni), but SLORC didn't allow them to stay in the town and put them in
Nwa La Bo concentration camp, along the car road north of Loikaw.  About 700 
people are presently in that site, and are reportedly receiving some rationed 
rice but there is no medicine and the clinic is closed. During June and July
1996 about 3,000 people arrived in Karenni refugee camps in Thailand, mainly
in 'Camp 2', and after the rainy season 1,300 more arrived in Camp 2, mainly
from the relocation sites after a short stay hiding near their village.
Families are still trickling in, though the trip is extremely difficult and
dangerous.  Some have died along the way.

At 2 a.m. on 3 January 1997, a force of between 20 and 50 men crossed into
Thailand and attacked Camp 2, firing assault rifles, rocket-propelled
grenades, M79 grenades, 60 mm. mortars and 2-inch mortars.  Three refugees
were killed, 2 men and one woman, and at least 9 refugees were wounded.  The
dead and wounded ranged in age from 14 to 60.  A statement and uniform left
behind after the attack indicated that it had been carried out by the
Karenni National Democratic Army (KNDA), armed wing of the Karenni National
Democratic Party (KNDP).  This 'splinter' organisation was formed on 5
November 1996 and allied itself with SLORC to fight against the KNPP.  While
it claims to be independent, many people believe it was initiated by SLORC
to divide the KNPP and as a front for use in attacking Thailand, just as the
Democratic Kayin
Buddhist Army (DKBA) has been used to attack Karen refugee camps further
south.  Some refugees and KNPP officials believe that the attackers were
actually SLORC soldiers using the name of KNDA and KNDP, which are based 
near Deemawso, far from the area of  Camp 2.

Details, maps, interviews and photos regarding the situation in these
areas  will be available in an upcoming KHRG report and photo set.

*************************************

RANGOON RADIO MYANMAR: FOREIGN MINISTER OHN GYAW RETURNS FROM NAIROBI UNEP
MEETING  
February 11, 1997 (translated from Burmese)

U Ohn Gyaw, foreign minister and chairman of the Myanmar [Burma]
Environmental Protection Commission, and delegation arrived back in Yangon
[Rangoon] by air this evening after attending the 19th ministerial meeting
of the Administrative Council of the United Nations Environment Program
[UNEP] in Nairobi, Kenya.  The UNEP Administrative Council meeting was held
at the
UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi from 27 January to 7 February. During the
ministerial meeting period, the foreign minister met with Ms. Elizabeth
Dowdeswell, UNEP executive director and UN deputy secretary general; (Mr.
Gel Borger), chairman of the 19th Administrative Council; environment
ministers and deputy ministers from the Asian region; and Dr. Suwith
Yodmani, UNEP director for Asia-Pacific. The minister delivered an address
at the ministerial meeting on 6 February. 

*********************************