The BurmaNet News: March 27, 1998

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The BurmaNet News: March 27, 1998    
Issue # 968

HEADLINES:    
========== 
THE NATION: ARMY BRACES FOR IMMINENT KAREN ATTACK
THE NATION: REFUGEES CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE
THE NATION: TURN CRISIS INTO A NEW OPPORTUNITY
THE NATION: SANAN OFFERS JOBS TO TIMBER SCAM OFFICIALS
BKK POST: ENHANCED ROLE FOR UNHCR WELCOMED
BKK POST: PIER PRESSURE
THE SUNDAY TIMES: ARTICLE
SCMP: UPROAR OVER PLAN TO RETURN KAREN MEN 
SCMP: JUNTA UNDER FIRE AS HEADS LIST
SCMP: EL NINO BLAMED FOR SMALLER GOLDEN TRIANGLE OPIUM CROP 
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THE NATION: ARMY BRACES FOR IMMINENT KAREN ATTACK

March 27, 1998

The Nation, Agencies 

Tak _ The Army was out in force yesterday largest refuges camp along the
border with Burma after Prime Leekpai threatened retaliation if the camps
are attacked in cross-border raids.

Leaders of the camp at Mae Hla, the largest of a string of camps sheltering
some 100,000 refugees along the border, said they anticipated an imminent
attack by pro-Burma guerrillas to mark Burma's Armed Forces Day holiday today.

Hundreds of Thai soldiers were strung along the roads around Mae Hla, home
to 30,000 people, and taking up position in the hills to thwart any raid by
the ethnic Karen guerrillas allied with Burma's military regime.

Army chief Chettha Thanajaro on Wednesday said the camps should not be used
to harbour anti-Burma rebels and that able-bodied men suspected of being
combatants should be sent back to Burma to defuse the threat of more
cross-border raids.

Thailand is grappling for a solution to raids from Burma, by the pro-Burma
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) guerrillas against the refugees,
mostly Karen.

The refugees largely support the Karen National Union, which has fought the
Burmese government for more autonomy for the Karen for 50 years.

In the past three weeks, raiders from the DKBA have repeatedly crossed the
rugged border, which is nearly impossible to seal off, and burned two
refugee camps and fired mortars at a third.

Meanwhile, more than 100,000 refugees who fled persecution and fighting in
Burma look set to benefit from an expected change in Thailand's border
policy, aid workers and officials said.

Thai officials are finalising plans to change a long-standing policy and
allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to run
refugee camps along the Burmese border.

"We would like to have the UNHCR play a greater role," Deputy Foreign
Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra told Reuters. "We want to create conditions
for more transparency."

Last month, the National Security Council (NSC) chaired a meeting with UNHCR
and concerned Thai agencies following Prime Minister Chuan's mandate for
UNHCR's greater role that will verify Thailand's transparency in dealing
with refugees.

At the Feb 19-21 meeting in Chiang Mai, the working group proposed that
UNHCR be allowed to help assess the situation in admission or refusal of
Burmese displaced persons into the country, participate in the registration
and repatriation and help Thailand solve the refugee problems.

Although the detail has yet to be finalised, international observers and aid
workers applauded the proposed change. "The international community has had
this on their plate for a time _ urging the Thais to give UNHCR a role," one
US official said. "It would enhance the protection of refugees at the border."

The Thai change-of-heart follows a series of attacks by Burmese-backed
guerrillas on ethnic Karen refugee camps.

DKBA members, supported by the Burmese army, have raided and razed camps
this month, killing at least five people and burning 1,000 homes.

A UNHCR spokesman said the organisation is prepared to help Thailand ease
the burden of assisting refugees but has yet to receive a formal request.

Although non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are permitted to help out in
the sprawling camps along the border, Thailand has rejected repeated
requests from the UNHCR for an established presence there.

The Cabinet has addressed the camp issue but the final decision must be made
by the NSC, which is due to discuss with the UNHCR representative soon,
Sukhumbhand said.

"There are a number of things to be worked out _ what kind of role [the
UNHCR would play], what kind of commitment [it would have]," he said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul said the Cabinet on Tuesday
considered how to enhance the UNHCR's position in the camps as they will be
moved further inside Thailand and whether combine some of the camps for the
sake of logistical practicality.

The UNHCR which has a presence at refugee camps on the Cambodian border and
ran camps housing more than half a million Indochinese refugees on Thai soil
in the late 1970s to 1980s, conducts regular visits but must have permission
to go to the camps near Burma.

******************************************************
THE NATION: REFUGEES CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

March 27, 1998

If the attacks on the Karen refugee camps were a diabolical attempt by the
military junta to force these people to return to Burma, it is definitely
not working, writes Aung Zaw.

A Karen man from Huay Kaloke, refugee camp whose house was the first set
ablaze by rebel troops from Burma recalled, "When I looked out there [rice
field], I saw some people coming toward my house. I suddenly realise they
were enemies so I screamed and ran. Then they started shooting."

Around 1 am on March 11 the Rangoon-backed Karen guerrillas known as the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Amy (DKBA) began pounding the camp with mortar
shells before they moved in. Approximately 200 troops attacked the refugees,
armed with M-79 machine guns.

They left the camp in ashes. Two refugees, including a preach woman, were
killed and about 33 injured. A Christian church and the hospital were burnt
to the ground.

"They took all our money," cried a 40-year-old Karen woman. Although the
amount was only Bt120 it was her family's total savings. Her daughter was
hit by shrapnel and was in a serious condition at the hospital.

"Water, water," the young girl whimpered.

"Do you think she will live?' her mother asked a reporter.

Refugees in the camp charged that the Burmese army was behind the attack.
The Karen Refugee Committee (KRC) and the Karen National Union (KNU) also
claimed that the government troops were involved in the assault.

"The aim of the attack is to force us to return to Burma," said deputy camp
leader Hla Wai.         

"We don't feel safe here. But we are not moving. We cannot forgive such a
murderous attack on unarmed people," said a Karen man. The attackers burned
down 90 per cent of the houses. A total of 1,300 shelters in the camp were
razed to the ground and over 8,000 people made homeless. This is not the
first time the camp was attacked. It was raided last year, although no-one
was killed then. 

The assault in the refugees has drawn international outrage. The United
States, Burma's most vocal critic, condemned the attack and called on
Rangoon to halt the "campaign of terror and violence".

In Rangoon, the ruling junta spokesman rejected the accusation. A senior
Rangoon official was reported to say that the US was speaking prematurely
and did not have all the facts.

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights office in Bangkok sent a
team to investigate the attack. It also issued a statement saying it was
"deeply distressed" by the incident and urged the Thai government to take
measures to guarantee the security of refugees near the Burmese border.

The Foreign Ministry submitted a protest letter to Burma. Human rights
groups accused the 3rd Region Army of doing nothing to stop the attacks. A
US aid group and the KRC have both slammed the 3rd Army for alleged inaction
during the attack despite having at least two hours' warning.

The Washington-based US Committee for Refugees said Thai troops were
believed to have "done nothing to intervene".

Refugees at Huay Kaloke said Thai guards at the camp had learned than the
attack was imminent but did nothing. However, Army officials said they had
done everything they could. Saw Htoo Htoo and other Karen women in the camp
said there was no resistance from the Thai troops.

"I think Thai guards knew they [DKBA] were coming," Saw Htoo Htoo said.

In fact, border raids are nothing new. The DKBA and Rangoon troops have
repeatedly entered Thai territory and earned out several cross-border raids.
Refugees live in fear of these attacks. Despite previous attacks little has
been done to protect them.

"The motive of these raids is a long term strategy of the Burmese army to
terrorise the refugees into returning to Burma and to force the armed, KNU
to enter into a ceasefire agreement," said an NGO worker in Mae Sot. The KNU
has held a series of ceasefire talks with the Rangoon junta but has failed
to reach an agreement.

A foreign observer in Mae Sot commented, "I don't see the people going back.
I don't quite understand this strategy and I don't think that will encourage
them to go back."

A few days after the attack, National Security Council (NSC)
Secretary-General Gen Boonsak Kamheangridirong conceded that Thailand had
not done enough to stop the raids. 

"We accept that we were inactive," Boonsak said after he visited Huay Kaloke
camp in the company of a number of Western diplomats.

Ironically, two days after his admission, the rebels launched a new attack
on Maw Kei camp. In the past two weeks, they had attacked three times. The
other two camps attacked were Mae Hla and Mawkier. The attackers threatened
they would be back. In Mawkier, about 50 houses were burned down and 14
people injured. A-week-old child and her mother were hit by shrapnel and are
in a serious conditions in Mae Sot hospital.

Refugees in the camps are frustrated and desperate.

"We don't know who to trust and depend on. It seems no one is siding with
us," said one.

Meanwhile the Army has issued a warning that it would pursue errant Karen
guerrillas who intrude into Thai territory. But few people take this
seriously. In Rangoon, a powerful general asked his Thai counterpart to take
action against the DKBA, denying that the Burmese troops were involved in
the recent raids and killings.

Nevertheless, the Rangoon generals are eager to cut a deal with the KNU. But
so far progress has not been very good. Instead, there have been exchanges
not only of angry words but also bullets. A KNU official said Rangoon should
stop killing Karen refugees and burning their camps if they were really
serious about peace talks.

"As long as they do this, I don't see why we should make peace. Burmese are
not sincere about peace," he said.

Back in the camp, a Karen man who has lived there for 12 years said, "The
problem is that no one is talking about us. We are completely being left out
of the picture." 

He paused, then gazing at the ashes where his house once stood, he said, "We
are high-class refugees."

When asked to elaborate, he explained, "I mean we are refugees, but on top
of that we are robbed, killed and terrorised.

"I want the two sides to agree on a peace settlement," the 40-year-old
mother said in a low voice while holding her daughter's hand. "I'm not a
politician, but I don't know when we will see real peace."

At the hospital, Chit San Maung, a 12year-old Karen boy, pleaded with the
nurses to amputate his leg which was hit by bullets.

"It is very painful and I can't stand it anymore," he cried.

"I want to go back to [Burma],"he said, "I want revenge."

He then asked his visitors to buy toys for him. When asked what kind of toys
he would like, he answered, "guns".

Burma, it appears, is still not ready for peace.

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

THE NATION: TURN CRISIS INTO A NEW OPPORTUNITY

March 27, 1998

* Social critic Sulak Sivaraksa appeals to the Asian and European leaders
due to meet at the Asia-Europe summit in London next week.

The world community today is facing a great mess that demands a revolution
no smaller than the one that led Europe out of Middle Ages to the modem era.
As you may he aware, crisis also means opportunity. So, as leaders in this
crucial time of history, you are responsible for marking the right decision
to turn our crisis into a new opportunity for redirecting human society from
common disaster into common good and well-being.

A common mistake of both European and Asian leaders has been their putting
economic growth as the supreme aim. Western Europe has humanised their
approach to some extent by some measures of income distribution, democratic
institutions and human rights standards as well as constant improvement in
environmental regulations. But this is not enough as it still functions
within the growth-oriented framework and encourages excessive consumerism.
This is also achieved not without exploiting fellow human beings and the
natural resources.

This trend needs to be reversed along with the reduction of our material
standard of living in which we consume more than our fair share of the
world's natural resources. New moral frameworks need to be formulated both
at the structural and personal level. For example, owning a private car must
be morally wrong considering the consequences if all the people in China and
India were to have cars.

The irony is that Asian countries have been crudely following this path of
unlimited growth-oriented development without as much a care for human
rights and the environment. Hence, human rights abuse and environmental
destruction continues despite economic growth. And accompanying this growth
come women trafficking, child labour, discrimination against ethnic
minorities and other social ills.

The most recent shameful case, is the Yadana gas pipeline project that cut a
gash up to 30 km long in Burma, forcing the relocation of around 13 ethnic
villages. The pipeline, partly built with forced labour, will also be the
largest income earner for the Burmese military regime. Financed by French
giant Total and the American Unocal, such kind of action would have cause an
outcry in their own countries.

As the pipeline reaches the Thai border, local people in Kanchanaburi are
strongly protesting against the project in the hope of saving some of the
last remaining forests in the country. But when things got hot, the army was
sent in.

>From a spiritual perspective this kind of development does not truly benefit
anyone. Even when the rich get richer, their quality of life gets poorer. In
the rich sectors of society there is increasing unemployment, disregard for
older people and the disintegration of the community and family.

As leaders, you may all be aware that multinational corporations are the new
monsters that need to be tamed and kept under control otherwise governments
would be reduced to just puppets to serve their power. These companies
strategically plan activities in areas with low labour costs and with
favourable conditions such as the lack of environmental protection.

These multinationals, in cahoots with the media, are creating increasing
demand for consumer goods. The multinationals' view of development,
supported by the Asean and the European Union, is an eternal search for new
markets to exploit. Thus, it is the moral choice of governments as to
whether they are on the side of the people they are accountable to or the
servants of the multinationals.

There is strong evidence that ecosystems around the world are breaking as we
see phenomena like falling water tables, flooding and climate change. In
short, the development model promoted by the West is not sustainable. It is
devastating our planet and we can no longer continue with this Western
throw-away lifestyle.

>From a Buddhist perspective _ and I am sure other spiritual perspectives
would agree _ a more frugal lifestyle that in harmony with the natural
environment is not only necessary for the survival of the Earth but is more
beneficial as happiness comes from the reduction of greed, hatred and
delusion, and not from satisfying these desires. I would like to emphasise
again that we are all part of a new revolution and it is our common
responsibility to redirect our collective karma from moving to a common
disaster by exploiting each other and destroying our planet. The new
direction is the path of spiritual enlightenment, compassion for each other
and dare for Mother Earth.

SULAK SIVARAKSA is a recipient of the Right livelihood Award, the
'alternative' Nobel Prize.

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

THE NATION: SANAN OFFERS JOBS TO TIMBER SCAM OFFICIALS

March 27, 1998


The Nation

INTERIOR Minister Sanan Kachornprasart has decided to create special posts
for the five officials under investigation in the Salween logging scandal.

He said he planned to appoint the five to new positions and make them feel
more welcome by giving them higher authority. Normally they would he
transferred to inactive posts as ministry inspectors while under investigation.

Sanan said he was creating one post of deputy permanent secretary for
interior in charge of local affairs, two offices for C-10 officials attached
to the ministry and two offices for C-9 officials attached to the ministry.

He said he would present the proposed transfers to the Cabinet on Tuesday
for approval.

Permanent Secretary for Interior Chanasak Yuwaboon said yesterday he was
seeking a formal endorsement by the Civil Service Commission for the new posts.


The five officials are at the centre of an investigation illegal logging of
commercially prized teakwood in Salween national reserve forest. The timber
was smuggled across the border into Burma and then floated back across the
Salween River to look like it had been imported.

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

BKK POST: ENHANCED ROLE FOR UNHCR WELCOMED

March 27, 1998

But silence greets repatriation plan

The regional office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
yesterday affirmed its willingness to help the government ease the burden of
assisting refugees on the Thai-Burmese border.

But the UNHCR and Western embassies which have shown particular concern over
the attacks on refugee camps on the border declined comment on the warning
from the army chief, Gen Chettha Thanajaro, of a planned move to repatriate
Karen males from all camps along the border.

"The UNHCR is prepared to help the Royal Thai Government to ease the burden
of assisting refugees," said a statement from its regional office. 

"But, with regard to recent media reports on activities concerning the
Thai-Myanmar border, we have not received any official communication from
the Royal Thai Government."

Western embassies whose ambassadors visited Huay Kalok and Mae Hla camps
last Friday following attacks by Rangoon-backed forces welcomed Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai's comments about plans to enhance the UNHCR's role.

A US official said: "We would welcome it as a good and positive step if the
Thai government went ahead with the proposal to give the UNHCR a bigger role."

A British embassy official said: "We welcome the prime minister's comments
on an enhanced role for the UNHCR."

An Australian diplomat said: "We support the relocation of the camps and
support efforts to find a sustainable solution to the problem. In that
context, we would also welcome a greater UNHCR involvement."

On Gen Chettha's remarks, a Western analyst said the primary objective
seemed to be identification of possible combatants in the camps, and removal
of any that might be found.

 "We can hardly, object to Such a move which would be in keeping with
international standards," the analyst added.

"But if there were any wholesale repatriation of Karen males, there would be
an international outcry and this would come at a particularly critical time,
when Thailand is trying to garner investor confidence."

Two Border Patrol Police units yesterday staged pre-dawn weapon searches at
two refugee camps in Mae Hong Son province as part of a security beef-up.

The searches at the Ban Nai Soy and Bang Tractor camps were ordered by Pol
Lt-Col Decha Khamkerd, commander of the 336th BPP Unit.

No weapons were found in the two camps, which house hundreds of Karen
refugees who had fled fighting in their motherland.

Sources said Thanit Nanthawong, chief of the illegal immigrant suppression
centre in the province, yesterday ordered the Pang Ma Pha district chief to
survey the living conditions of about 222 Shan refugees in Ban Pang Yon camp.

Provincial authorities also planned to evacuate these refugees to the Bang
Tractor camp for control and security reasons.

The planned evacuation of the refugees follows a series of attacks by the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

The pro-Rangoon DKBA has staged several attacks on refugee camps this month.

Thousands of Karen refugees, many of whom are supporters of the Karen
National Union, have been living in refugee camps inside Thailand after
fleeing a decade of fighting in their homeland.

The camps have become prime targets of attacks by the DKBA, which wanted to
suppress the KNU.

Gen Chettha yesterday ordered the Infantry Regiment's 4th Special Task Force
to conduct a weapons search at refugee camps in Tak province and to separate
Karen males from female refugees before repatriating them to Burma.

Gen Chettha said the authorities wanted to search for weapons and DKBA
members hidden in the camps as spies.

He stressed that the army would not allow any foreign armed force to use
Thai soil as a battlefield.

"We will not let any foreign armed force use our territory to stage any
attack against its rival. If they want to attack, they must do it outside
our land. Those who intrude on our soil will be disarmed and sent back to
Burma," said the army chief.

The army also plans to reduce the number of refugee camps to only eight _
four in the North and four in the South _ for security reasons.

Gen Chettha added he has assigned his secretary Maj-Gen Pongthep
Thespratheep and deputy director to the army's Directorate of Civil Affairs
Col Jongsak Panitchakul to hold press conferences relating to the army and
its planned repatriation of refugees.

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

BKK POST: PIER PRESSURE

March 27, 1998

AFP

Rangoon _ A Singapore-built wharf stretching 198 metres along the bank of
the Yangon River in Burma's Kyaukktan township has opened for business, the
New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported yesterday. 

In addition to freight-handling work, the wharf will serve as production
complex for edible oil, it said.

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

THE SUNDAY TIMES: ARTICLE

March ,1998

At the end of a pitted track, 15 miles from the nearest town, stands a
windowless barn with an untended garden of slipper orchids and
bougainvillea. Circles of barbed wire around the bamboo walls, its wooden
gates secured with a look and length of  chain.

Inside this stifling hanger, which was once family's home, lie a Dozen
women, some asleep on raffia mate,  others drinking water from a bucket.
They had all been tested by the authorities from HIV, removed from the care
of their family, and transported to the compound to die of AIDS.

Nang Lek had spent six month in the containment centre in a remote part of
Shan State, in the north east of Burma, and seen the slow deaths of many. "I
was with my husband and children when they came to my village and told all
the women that we had to be tested. I didn't know what it was for but a week
later they came back and told me I had AIDS.

"When I arrived at the compound everyone around me was no sick but there was
no medicine for us only rice and some vegetable. We were brought one bucket
of water a day to drink and to clean ourselves with."

Nang Lek is one of an unknown umber of people with HIV persecuted by Burma's
military junta. evidence has emerged of several isolation centre in Shan
State where people are incarcerated and left to die. In dozens of secret
interviews, health workers revealed how the regime was dealing with an
epidemic, which officially does not exit.

But even this scandalous policy of containment is being undermined by a
second more abhorrent practise. We had found Nang Lek, 22, originally from
Tachilek, in Shan State, working in a brothel in Upper Burma. Six month
earlier, she had been sold by her guards at the compound and now worked as a
prostitute with several other women who also has come from HIV centres in
Shan State. None of them had shown signs of sickness during their months of
incarceration and how paid 15 pence a time. There were no condoms available
and many of the women were visibly sick.

Behind one bamboo we spokes to Nang Kaew, a 17-years-old prostitute
originally from Keng Tung, in Shan State. Her face was hollow and her
wire-thin fingers held a  lorn photograph of her family. "I got sick while I
was working in Thailand and went home. The authorities came to my house and
said I had to have an HIV test. One week later they told me I had to leave
and soldiers brought me here," she said.

In Burma, one of the world's most repressive regime, the military government
now spends more than 60 per cent of its annual budget on the armed forces
and only 30 per cent per person on health. In a country where the generals
maintain there are only 13,000 people with HIV, while the World Health
Organisation estimates the figure is closer to 500,000, AIDS is a problem to
be hidden, a crisis to be denied.

Doctors told the Sunday Times, how the local authorities were conducting
mandatory HIV testing to identify those to be removed from the community. It
was being supervised by the Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA), described by diplomats in Rangoon as a "pervasive and insidious"
propaganda machine. It compelled anyone million members who are forced into
military training and more rallies. Those who refuse are fined and beaten,
lose their jobs and their children are remove from school.

HIV sufferers told how they were dined medication and even blood
transfusions unless they joined the local USDA branch. Hospital workers said
they were now hiding their files from the officials. "Some of my patients
have disappeared and others have been forced out of their home, after the
USDA got hold of their medical records," said one hospital doctor in
northern Shan State.

The USDA's patron is senior General Than Shwe, army chief of staff and
chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which runs
Burma. According to the USDA internal manual. seen by the Sunday Times, the
duties of its round assistance and to assist in achieving rule, law and order".

The USDA's decision to restore order in communities by removing AIDS
mirrored the tactics of the army it was mandated to assist. While an unknown
number of people with HIV were being isolated from their families, entire
communities in Shan State being secretly uprooted. Testimonies, Videos and
Photographic evidence, obtained by The Sunday Times, reveal hoe more than
600 people were massacred, 1470 villages burned down and 300,000 people
forced to move to barron relocation centres.

During our visit, stories emerged that in Kun Hing township, there had been
two separate massacres in which group of 27 and 29 villages were tied up and
shot by infantry battalions 246 and 513, commanded by major Nyunt Oo and Col
Thein Soe.

One women who survived recalled. "We were rounded up and taken out one by
one, including my husband. I heard gunfire and outside it was black with
soldiers. I would have been killed if I hadn't had my baby with me. Another
women who had left her baby at home was hot even though she squ      milk
from her breast to show the commander."

A video smuggled out of Shan State in February, shows one of the massacre
sites. The film, obtained by Images Asia, in Thailand, pans across a dozen
waterfalls before pulling back to a path where a row of broken and burnt
bullock carts lie scattered among upturned rice bowls and plastics sandals.
Beyond is a jungle clearing where the decaying bodies of 27 villagers lie
skulls stripped of everything but their long black hair, leg bones
protruding from checked longyis, bodies slumped as they fell, lying face
down in the red dirt.

Even in the army's so-called relocation centres, civilians were not safe.
The Sunday Times obtained pictures from the Shan Human Rights Foundation of
Kho Lam camp, also in central Shan State, which show the bodies of three
adults and two children killed in an army mortar attack last February. They
had been wrapped up in red and green matting ad laid out for bu     by
fleeing relatives.

The crisis in Shan State presented aid workers with an acute dilemma as to
how they can assist the victims of the regime. Many groups, including the
International Committee for the Red Cross, have pulled out of Burma
altogether after finding it was impossible to work without collaborating or
being used by the junta.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's democracy movement, under virtual
house arrest in Rangoon, said: "There is almost no justification for
international groups to work in Burma because it is so difficult to be free
of the all-pervasive authority of the government. How can these group be
sure of who they are helping? Any one who gives money to the government has
no right to be working in Burma."

However, some like World Vision UK, funded by the European Commission and
AusAid, have continued to work in Shan State and have attracted criticism
from the international aid community which claims its work has brought the
charity            to the regime.

World Vision, which claims to "serve the neediest people of the earth", is
working in Tachilek, a frontier town of message parlors and karaoke bars on
the Thai Burma border, where the morning market sells guns and gripe water.
It launched HIV education schemes and trained 80 community volunteers to
care for AIDS sufferers, many of whom were young girls who had previously
been sold into Thailand's sex industry. Four months ago (November 97), world
Vision began a similar programme in Kengtung, the hilltop capital of the
Golden Triangle, with its crumbling colonial villas and labyrinth or
shuttered Chinese houses.

It emerged that World Vision had helped set up the Aids supporting Group,
whose members included the local USDA chairman. It had also paid thousands
of the pound to government civil servants who were being trained as HIV
counselors, all of them members of the USDA.

Although World Vision denies direct links with the association, in its 1995
report, it praised the USDA for being "really eager" to participate in
community development work at a local level.

Other groups allied to the British charity in Shan State are also controlled
by the armed forces. The Myanmar Material and Child Welfare Association
(MMCWA) was led nationally by the wire of Khin Nyunt, the Secretary Number
One of the SPDC and head of the feared Military Intelligence. Locally, the
wire of the northern Shan State military commander ran it.

The Myanmar Red Cross (MRC), which also a member of the AIDS supporting
Group, was taken over by the USDA last year and is used on a national level
to forcibly repatriate refugees. Martin Smith, a British academic and Burma
expert, said: "Over four decades of armed conflict, there is no evidence of
the MRC ever operating as a neutral humanitarian agency."

All of World Vision's activities now have to be approved by Maj Gen Ket
Sein, the health minister, who until November was the Deputy commander of
the Coastal military region. Last year, he was accused by international
human rights groups of committing war crimes against civilians.

The charity told The Sunday Times that it was only working in Burma at a
grace-roots level, "empowering" the community to prevent the spread of HIV.
World Vision confirmed that it had paid for the raining of civil servants
but had stopped the programme last July. A spokesman said: "we are fully
aware of the nature of the USDA and other government organisations. We
started work carefully and wisely and to this day monitor all that we do
against our own ethical standards. We insure that no resources pass to the
regime and that they gain no credit or kudos from our activities. World
Vision is making an essential contribution to prevent further atrocities
such as those mentioned by The Sunday Time."

But While World Vision continues to run programmes which are designed to
reach the neediest, it cannot control the junta's welfare groups which are
poracouting women like Nang Lek, or its army which is killing thousands.
"The only time I saw a doctors was when they took blood from my arm," said
Nang Lek. "We look after each other because nobody else cares."

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

SCMP: UPROAR OVER PLAN TO RETURN KAREN MEN 

March 27  1998
 
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok 

Thailand is considering repatriating Karen males of fighting age to Burma.

Horrified diplomats and aid workers read of the news in the Bangkok Post,
which quoted army chief General Chettha Tanajaro saying most abled-bodied
men would soon be sent back.

Diplomats initially dismissed the suggestion as posturing, until Thai
officials later criticised Karen rebels for using the refugee safe havens as
launch pads for attacks on Burmese troops.

General Chettha said recent bloody cross-border attacks by Burmese forces
against refugee camps would stop if only women, children and old people
stayed in the camps.

Envoys were appalled at plans to strip refugee communities of their menfolk,
breaching international law, creating trauma and leaving women and children
vulnerable to unscrupulous locals.

"I am amazed that this idea seems to be being taken seriously. Surely they
must know that there would be an eruption of international protests if
anything like this was attempted," said one senior Western diplomat.

About 75 per cent of the 120,000 or so people who live in Thailand's 19
Burmese refugee camps are ethnic Karen.

Thai premier Chuan Leekpai threatened to retaliate strongly this week if
there were any more raids on the camps, after five refugees were killed and
scores injured in recent attacks.

The sprawling Mae La camp that houses 35,000 Karen near the Thai border town
of Mae Sot, northwest of Bangkok, was described by an observer as "crawling
with Thai troops" yesterday.

Although Thai troops once exchanged mortar fire with Burmese gunners
shelling one of the biggest refugee camps, the soldiers usually retreat
quickly when faced with raiding parties.

The Thai authorities appear to be swinging around to Rangoon's claim that
Karen rebels could not continue their 50-year fight for autonomy - the
world's longest guerilla war - without support from refugees.

International aid officials argue that although some rebel families
undoubtedly seek a safe haven in the camps, it is hard to imagine how much
support they can give freedom-fighters from across the border.

"Most Karen refugees leave their farms because they are terrified of Burmese
troops who kill or rape on a whim," said one veteran refugee worker. "Why
doesn't Thailand put pressure on Burma to stop its rampant human rights
abuses in the border areas?"

It has not gone unnoticed that General Chettha was in Rangoon recently with
ex-premier General Prem Tinsulanonda for the opening of the Thai-funded
Nikko Hotel.

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SCMP: JUNTA UNDER FIRE AS HEADS LIST

March 27  1998

DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR in Bangkok 

Burma remains the world's largest source of opium and heroin, although
production last year fell slightly from the previous year, a US State
Department report disclosed yesterday.

"The 1997 crop estimates indicate there were 155,150 hectares under opium
cultivation which could yield a maximum of 2,365 tonnes of opium gum -
enough to produce an estimated 197 tonnes of heroin," said the International
Narcotics Control Strategy Report (1997), a copy of which was made available
in Bangkok.

The US State Department report, compiled annually, said Burma accounted for
about 90 per cent of the total opium production in Southeast Asia.

Afghanistan ranked second and Laos, which borders Burma to the east, ranked
as the world's third-largest opium and heroin source.

According to the report, Burma's military regime last year increased
seizures of narcotics and closed down more heroin refineries than in 1996.

"Overall efforts, however, paled in comparison with the narcotics problem
and continued to suffer from a lack of resources and political will," said
the report. Government seizures accounted for less than one per cent of the
country's total opium and heroin output, it noted.

The report criticised the Burmese junta for failing to crack down on
opium-growing in areas under the control of minority groups that had signed
cease-fire treaties with the Government.

It also attacked the regime for permitting large-scale money laundering of
narcotics profits into the "legitimate" economy and for refusing to
extradite one-time opium warlord Khun Sa to the US to face charges of heroin
trafficking.

Rangoon has signed cease-fire agreements with 15 of the country's ethnic
minority groups, promising them development assistance and a degree of
autonomy in their regions.

"The regime's highest priority is to end the insurrection. Counter-narcotics
interests in these areas are a secondary consideration," said the report.

"These cease-fire agreements have had the practical effect of condoning
money laundering, as the Government encouraged these groups to invest in
'legitimate' businesses".

Khun Sa, who surrendered to troops in December 1996, lives and conducts his
business activities in Rangoon.

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SCMP: EL NINO BLAMED FOR SMALLER GOLDEN TRIANGLE OPIUM CROP 

March 27  1998

DONALD MORRIS in Vientiane 

Golden Triangle opium production could tumble in the coming harvest season,
according to estimates from Laos.

Government officials and the United Nations Drug Control Programme believe
dry conditions will bring the harvest below the 1996 estimate of 140 tonnes.

Laos' northern mountains are a major source of raw opium, although
authorities say the opium harvested there is turned into heroin in factories
abroad.

Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Soubanh Srithirath reported the prediction
for a lower harvest, basing his conclusion on surveys in nine villages in
Oudomxai and Xieng Khouang provinces, two of the major opium-producing areas
in northern Laos.

UN drugs programme representative in Laos, Holvar Kolshus, said the
prediction stemmed from the unusually warm weather during the recent growing
season, which he attributed to the El Nino effect.

Last year saw a bumper opium crop across the Golden Triangle region
encompassing Burma, Thailand and Laos, with a subsequent drop in prices.

A United States survey of Laos' production put it at 210 tonnes for last
year, a five per cent increase over the previous year.

The survey also said there had been a 12 per cent increase in cultivation
from 1996 to 1997.

In another development, authorities arrested a women carrying 18,000
amphetamine tablets in the northern province of Bokeo on March 16, according
to the Vientiane Times.

The woman was boarding a plane from the town of Houeisai to Vientiane
carrying the amphetamines, which weighed 1.5 kilograms.

It was unclear whether the drugs had originated in Laos.

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