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BKK Post, April 2, 1998. THAI-BURME
- Subject: BKK Post, April 2, 1998. THAI-BURME
- From: burma@xxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 01 Apr 1998 22:34:00
April 2, 1998. THAI-BURMESE BORDER / FREEDOM AND RELOCATION
DKBA returns Thai woman, Australian
Guerrillas say they were not abducted
An Australian aid worker and his Thai woman colleague were freed
yesterday and returned to Thailand by pro-Rangoon guerrillas who lured
them into Burma last week.
Army officers and aid agencies reported that Nick Cheesman, 28, and
Ngamsuk Rattanasathien, 30, were freed by the Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army near Gophado, not far from Mae Sot district in Tak province.
Both were reported to be in good shape and were being debriefed by
officials about their captivity since being abducted last Friday.
The pair were reportedly taken at gunpoint across the shallow Moei river
into Burma by the guerrillas, who have staged a series of raids into
Thailand against Karen refugee camps strung along the border.
Mr Cheesman, a former resident of Sydney, has been working as a teacher
for several years in the camps and works for a Bangkok-based
organisation called Burma Issues, which investigates human rights
violations.
In Canberra, a spokesman for Australian Foreign Minister Alexander
Downer said their release came at 4:30pm local time.
"Mr Cheesman was handed over to Thai military authorities and is now in
the company of Australian embassy officials from Bangkok and
representatives from the group he works for," he said.
Details of the crossing into Burma remain unclear, but it was reported
the pair were photographing a site destroyed in fighting between the
DKBA and the Karen National Union, which has been battling for more
autonomy for Burma's Karen minority for 50 years.
Most of the 100,000 refugees who have fled the Burmese military regime
to Thailand are ethnic Karen. The majority back the KNU.
An army spokesman said yesterday that Mr Cheesman and his colleague had
gone across the border voluntarily.
This was reiterated by Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul who
said on Tuesday that the DKBA insisted the two were not kidnapped but
were invited to film and document damage done to the DKBA in a
counter-raid last week by the KNU.
Several other Thai civilians and security personnel have been kidnapped
in the recent DKBA raids. None is known to have been released so far,
despite repeated protests by the Thai government to Burma's military.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra said that Mr Cheesman and
his Thai friend were not abducted but crossed the border into Burma on
an impulse, following an invitation from gun-waving Burmese.
Mr Cheesman, who had cycled to the border without a change of clothes,
did not think his trip would become a big issue, added M.R, Sukhumbhand,
who was at the Third Army camp in Wang Kaew to meet the two on their
return.
The two crossed the border after seeing waving hands on the Burmese side
even though they were armed, the deputy minister noted. They also
visited a temple there, he added.
"These people don't have any aims in life. They go wherever people bid
them," he noted.
A human rights organisation yesterday called on the government to
formally protest to Burma against the supposed abduction of Mr Cheesman
and Ms Ngamsuk.
In a letter to Prime Minister and Defence Minister Chuan Leekpai, the
Union for Civil Liberty denounced the kidnapping of the two civilians,
saying such an act was a violation of human rights and infringement on
Thai sovereignty.
It urged the government to ask Burma to make a public apology to the two
and Thailand and send the alleged kidnappers to stand trial in Bangkok.
It also asked the government to review diplomatic ties with the Burmese
government to avoid a recurrence. - AP, Bangkok Post
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