25/1/98: SHAN FACE POVERTY OR ETHNI

[uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

(The Weekend Australian, 25/1/98)
SHAN FACE POVERTY OR ETHNIC CLEANSING
by Ron Corben in Bangkok

Human rights abuses by Burmese troops in the northern Shan region have
forced thousnads of villagers from their homes, driving many to poverty 
and despair in Thailand.

The abuses, including massacres and forced relocation of Shan villagers, 
has resulted in the region's rebel armies breaking ceasefire agreements, 
uniting and making hit-and-run attacks on government troops.

Many Shan have fled into Thailand to escape the abuses, only to be caught 
up in poverty and fresh uncertainties.

A refugee aid source in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai told 
THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN that the circumstances of Shan in Thailand were 
"very dire". The refugees face poverty and unemployment, but "no one 
can go home".

Those who had been employed in Thailand's recession-hit building 
industry have not been paid.

If they returned home "they can hide in the jungle but there they 
can be shot on sight", the source said.

Health workers in Thailand say that many of the Shan have no work 
and are trying to survive on just plain rice.

The Shan armies have been often linked with the opium trade -- the 
best known being former drug warlord Khun Sa, who lad the Mong Tai 
Army and profited from heroin trafficking.

Khun Sa capitulated in 1996 to the junta and now lives in Rangoon. 
The regime refuses to extradite him to the US, where he is wnated 
due to his opium-trafficking activities.

The Shan, as with other ethnic groups in Burma, have sought greater 
autonomy from Rangoon through long years of fighting, with ceasefire 
agreements coming amid official promises of development.

The country's military junta, now known as the State Peace and 
Development Council, has increasingly militarised the Shan region.

A decision by the armies -- the Mong Tai Army, the Shan United 
Revolutionary army and the Shan State National Army -- to unite 
came during a breakdown in talks with Rangoon.

American journalist Jeanne Hallacy, whose documentary, entitled 
Burma Diary, was recently released, said that moves by the armies 
to unite had begun "as far back as mid 1997".

"There was a state of confusion after Khun Sa's surrender over what 
would happen if the MTA split," said Ms Hallacy, who met with Shan 
commandders inside the region last year.

Roadworks in the Shan region have gone ahead using forced labour 
provided by 80,000 people pressed to leave their crops and village homes.

"People have been seen (on the road sides) literally begging for 
food," Ms Hallacy said.

UNder the reloaction program, troops give villagers three days to 
evacuate their homes. The houses are then burnt to the ground and 
those who return are shot on sight.
**********************************************