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the nation: Army on alert after Kar



Politics 

      Army on alert after Karen
      raid

      The Army yesterday vowed to increase
      troops along the tense frontier with Burma
      following a raid by marauders who crossed
      the border and torched a Karen refugee
      camp. 

      The attack prompted a protest by the
      Foreign Ministry but human rights groups
      accused the Third Region Army of doing
      nothing to prevent it. 

      Local officials said food, medicine and
      water were being provided by humanitarian
      groups as households began putting up
      new huts at the 1,613-home Huay Ko Lok
      refugee camp, which was more than 80 per
      cent destroyed in the attack early on
      Wednesday by Democratic Karen Buddhist
      Army (DKBA) that killed two people,
      wounded 33 and left nearly 9,000 without
      shelter. 

      The Foreign Ministry's letter asked Burma's
      military government to take suitable border
      security measures and said Thai families
      affected by the cross-border raids should
      be compensated. 

      A US aid group and the Karen Refugee
      Committee have slammed the Third Army
      for alleged inaction during the Wednesday
      attack despite having at least two hours'
      warning. 

      The Burmese government in exile -- the
      National Council of the Union of Burma
      (NCUB) -- released a statement yesterday
      calling the attack a ''serious violation of the
      sovereignty of Thailand and a direct insult
      to the Thai government and the Thai
      people''. 

      It said it had written to Thai authorities to
      condemn the inaction and called on
      Bangkok to do more to protect the tens of
      thousands of civilian refugees camped
      along its western border. 

      Maj Gen Chamlong Phothong, chief-of-staff
      of the Third Army that has responsibility for
      the area, said the military would beef up
      security along the border to keep an eye
      out for future incursions. 

      Chamlong described the situation along the
      border as tense, with constant rumours of
      impending attacks on two other refugee
      camps. 

      The general confirmed that the attack had
      been launched by the DKBA, a splinter
      faction of Gen Bo Mya's Karen National
      Union allied with Burma's military
      government, which has been at war with
      Karen nationalists for decades. 

      Karen refugees living in Thailand have
      been repeatedly threatened with violence in
      an effort to get them to return to Burma. 

      The United States condemned the attack
      on Wednesday and called on Rangoon to
      halt the violence. 

      ''We call on the government of Burma to
      end its campaign of terror and violence
      against ethnic minorities,'' said State
      Department spokesman James Rubin. 

      The spokesman called on Burma to
      engage in a dialogue with the ethnic groups
      and with the National League for
      Democracy to bring about national
      reconciliation. 

      The statement came two days before
      Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai was to meet
      US President Bill Clinton and Secretary of
      State Madeleine Albright in Washington
      during his official US visit. 

      The Nation, Agencies