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BKK Post, April 2, 1998. THAI-BURME



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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