[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

The BurmaNet News: April 2, 1998



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------   
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"   
--------------------------------------------------------------
 
The BurmaNet News: April 2, 1998    
Issue # 973

HEADLINES:    
==========
THE NATION: CHETTHA BACKS CALL FOR BIGGER UNHCR
BKK POST: RENEGADE KARENS TORCH MARKET
BBC:  AUSTRALIAN TO BE RETURNED ON THURSDAY
BKK POST: GREATER UN ROLE WELCOMED
REUTERS:  INDIA GIVES $10 MILLION LOAN TO MYANMAR
BKK POST: NATION SHOULD PUT IMAGE ABOVE DEALS
ANNOUNCEMENT:  SCHOOL FOR RAPE REPORT BY ERI AVAILABLE

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

THE NATION: CHETTHA BACKS CALL FOR BIGGER UNHCR
April 1, 1998

ARMY Commander-in-Chief Gen Chettha Tharajaro, completely contradicting the
Army's official position, threw his weight behind a proposal that the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to take care of Burmese
refugees and be responsible for their resettlement in a third country.

In welcoming a UNHCR role, Chettha said that under its care the Burmese
along the border would be treated as refugees and have the right to go to a
third country.

"It would be good for Thailand if we no longer had to worry about them,
since the UNHCR would be the one body and authorised agency to best handle
this kind of thing," he said after briefing Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai
about the border situation.

However, he added, it should be understood that refugees, unlike displaced
people who had to return to their home country after wars ended, could stay
in Thailand longer pending their resettlement.

His statement, following Chuan's blessing on a UNHCR role came about as
talks between the UN body and Thai authorities continued about the UNHCR's
mandate in camps, their relocation and the merger of the existing 19 camps
into 11 in order to avoid a spill-over of fighting. It also marked a
complete change in the Thai military's stance on the subject.

The Thai government, which has run out of money to support the refugees,
earlier regarded them as displaced persons.

It also resisted a UNHCR role for fear the body's involvement in running
camps along the Thai-Burmese border would prolong the problem, as was the
case with Cambodian refugees.

The UNHCR has long regarded the Burmese at Thai border camps as "prima
facie refugees" who have fled to an adjacent country because of war,
persecution
or forced labour.

Yesterday afternoon the, UNHCR's Bangkok chief representative, Amelia
Bonifacio, met Chettha to discuss how to handle the refugees. According to
the deputy chief of the Army's Civil Affair Regiment, Maj Chongsak
Panitchakul, the UNHCR's role would cover helping Thai authorities screen
the refugees, providing shelter, food, health care and facilitating their
return to Burma when the conflict ended.

Screening to determine genuine refugees could become complicated and raise
humanitarian questions, as most of the thousands of Burmese there are Karen
sympathetic to the Karen National Union (KNU)'s fight for autonomy from
Rangoon.

According to UNHCR standards, refugees must be non-combatant civilians, the
same criterion that applied to Cambodian refugees.

The Thai Army has reportedly begun separating men and women before
relocating them to new camps. Those men who are Karen fighters will be sent
back to Burma to ensure that Thailand does not support any armed insurgency
fighting against Rangoon.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul said yesterday Australian Nick
Cheesman and Ngamsuk Rattanasathien, aid workers for Burma Issues who were
taken into Burma by Rangoon-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) on
Friday, would return to Thailand by tomorrow.

Quoting a report from the Army's Third Region, Kobsak said the pair had been
invited by a senior Buddhist monk, U-Tu Chana, to his temple at Myang Kyi
Hoo on March 29 to see the damage caused by KNU offensives and should be
back in Thailand by tomorrow.

The missing volunteers were located in DKBA territory, in the Lan Soy
district of Burma's Pa-an province.

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

BKK POST: RENEGADE KARENS TORCH MARKET
April 1, 1998
Cheewin Sartha
Mae Hong Son

Suspected Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) guerrillas torched a market
in Ban Mae Sam Laeb Of Sop Moei district yesterday.

An unidentified number of armed foreign fighters reportedly crossed the
Salween River into Ban Mae Sam Laeb in Sop Moei district at 1 p.m. yesterday
and torched a restaurant in Ban Mae Sam Leab Market.

Fanned by strong winds, the blaze quickly spread and destroyed more than 100
houses and living quarters of rangers and border officials and buildings of
a public health station.

It took villagers, soldiers, local police, and officials more than five hours
to put out the fire.

The cost of damage was initially estimated at no less than 10 million baht.

A border official said the fire might have been caused by an arson attack by
a group of DKBA guerrillas who had earlier been arrested by Thai rangers on
border intrusion charges.

According to the source, some Kayah Karens warned Thai border officials on
Sunday that DKBA troops would soon stage sabotage activities in border areas
of Mae Sariang and Sop Moei districts.

The source said he believes the DKBA was planning to attack the Ban Mae La
Ma Luang and Ban Mae Kong Kha refugee camps which house more than 10,000
Karens.

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

BBC:  KIDNAPPED AUSTRALIAN AND HIS ASSISTANT TO BE RELEASED ON THURSDAY
March 31, 1998 

>From the newsroom of the BBC World Service, World: Asia-Pacific

The Foreign Ministry of Thailand says that an Australian aid worker and his
Thai assistant, thought to have been captured by Burmese guerrillas, will be
released on Thursday.

The Burmese military government has informed the Thai officials that the two
are safe.

They were detained last Friday by a pro-Rangoon guerrilla force in the Moei
river district separating Thailand and Burma.

A Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the guerrilla group Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army insisted that the two were not kidnapped but invited to
film damage done by a rival group, the Karen National Union.

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

BKK POST: GREATER UN ROLE WELCOMED IN TAKING CARE OF KARENS
April 1, 1998
Wassana Nanuam

The army welcomes a greater role for the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees in taking care of Karen civilians sheltered in camps along the
Thai-Burmese border provided they are classified as displaced persons,
according to Col Chongsak Panichkul, deputy chief of the army's Directorate
of Civil Affairs.

With their status of displaced persons, the Karens are subject to
repatriation once the situation in Burma returns to normal.

Except Cambodian and Laotian refugees, Thailand has never allowed the UNHCR
direct handling of those fleeing from Burma who have been sheltered in
border camps in Tak and Mae Hong Son provinces though the agency has
occasionally visited the camps.

Giving the UNHCR a greater role in caring for refugees from Burma is seen as
Thailand's shift of policy.

Col Chongsak said Amilia Bonafacio, a UNHCR representative in Thailand,
yesterday met with the army chief, Gen Chettha Thanajaro. The UNHCR agreed
to Gen Chettha's proposal that the Karen camps be moved 10 kilometres deeper
inside Thailand to keep them away from attacks by heavy weapons and other
forms of harassment.

Mrs Bonafacio expressed sympathy for the Thai government and the army which
had to take care of the Karens, saying they were prone to criticism that
they cared more for the refugees than their own people.

Col Chongsak said the UNHCR was ready to fund the building of refugee camps
and public utilities.

The Karens now housed at the 19 camps will be resettled at eight new camps.
Authorities are looking for suitable sites to ensure the new camps won't
pose a threat to the environment.

Col Chongsak said able-bodied Karen males would not be pushed out of the
camps. They would be allowed to make their own decisions, he said, but if
they decided to stay, they would have to follow camp regulations strictly.

The officer stressed all able-bodied Karen men who decided to stay on would
be kept under a close watch, and they could not leave the camps to engage in
battle.

"Those who want to fight must leave Thai soil. We will not let anyone use
Thailand as a base or place for assembling of forces to attack others," he
said.

"The army and the UNHCR will jointly handle new arrivals. We will accept
all, including able-bodied men. But they must be disarmed and must not
return to join fighting in Burma again. The army will wipe out all weapon
caches on Thai soil. Those who do not strictly comply with the regulations
will be punished and repatriated," he said.

Col Chongsak said Gen Chettha also told the UNHCR representative to make
sure the refugees would not be allowed to stay too long in Thailand. They
must be sent back home though their repatriation would depend on the
situation in Burma.

"The army has tried its best, but it may not satisfy all Thais. But, as a
member of the world community, we can't afford to stay alone," Col Chongsak
added.

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

REUTERS:  INDIA GIVES MYANMAR $10 MILLION LOAN
March 30, 1998

YANGON, March 30 (Reuters) - India signed an agreement with Myanmar (Burma)
for the extension of a $10 million loan that will be used in the production
of machinery, official media reported on Monday.

The Indian embassy in Yangon confirmed that the loan agreement was signed on
Sunday.

``It is the first major loan India has extended to Myanmar after 1976,''
said an embassy official who declined to be identified.

Indian ambassador to Myanmar, Shyam Saram, and the director general of the
budget department, U Kyaw Hlaing, signed the loan agreement.

Local political analysts said the loan signing was a sign of a thaw in the
relations between Myanmar and India, which is the top importer of Myanmar
goods.

``It is a clear sign of improving Indo-Myanmar relations,'' a local analyst
said.

He said relations between Myanmar and India became strained when many
Myanmar citizens opposed to military rule fled the country after the
generals seized power in September 1988.

``Some of them have been carrying out anti-government activities based in
India ever since,'' he added.

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

BKK POST: NATION SHOULD PUT IMAGE ABOVE DEALS
April 1, 1998

Mark A. Smith
Major, USA, Retired

Letter to the Editor

The reason refugee camps are established is to shield innocents from war.
Traditionally, even during periods when the Royal Thai Army unabashedly
supported the KNU, rarely were weapons taken into official camps. The reason
for this in the past was the habit of some Thai soldiers and police
confiscating the weapons and then selling them back to the KNU.

Now the army is going to send all young men in the camps back to Burma. This
would seem to be another self-inflicted black eye. After rolling over and
allowing the invasion of Thai territory by Burmese junta backed factions of
the Karen, the ante is upped again and further concessions are made to the
dictators in Rangoon.

This flies in the face of claims the army must maintain control of border
security. There appears to be little "security". The very word means that
attacks should be prevented and not answered with a few indirect fire
rounds, fired into the jungle to show a false bravado in the face of
aggression.

As was bound to happen, the KNU finally was forced in the face of Thai army
opposition to retaliate itself. As should be obvious, they have little
trouble handling the breakaway faction or the Burmese army.

At some point the image of this country and the security of its borders are
going to have to take priority over tropical hardwoods and business deals.
That includes refraining from sending unarmed young men into the arms of
Slorc to appease these goons, rather than do what an army is supposed to do
and cut off the nose of any Burmese army minion who sticks it across the
border.

In a time when Thailand must work with the world's community to try and
overcome the financial fiasco of the last government, it appears the image
of the country must continue to be damaged by those who cling to the
to a dying foreign policy of money-over-national-honour of Gen Chavalit's
regime.

In the face of Slorc denying any connection with the raids by the DKBA, the
Royal Thai Army should be saying something about the KNU. At this point
there is no connection or support for the KNU. In this, Slorc is lying and
the Royal Thai Army is telling the truth.

What was just seen in the KNU attack on Slorc/DKBA was a demonstration of
what the true capabilities of the KNU are. To protect innocent lives, the
KNU has restrained itself on the battlefields near Thailand. I fear that if
the young men are sent unarmed into the arms of Slorc to die, all bets will
be off and there will be a real bloodletting along the border. Sadly all
this could be avoided by simply killing any armed intruder. But it seems
unarmed refugees are much easier to deal with.

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

ANNOUNCEMENT:  SCHOOL FOR RAPE REPORT AVAILABLE
April 1, 1998

School for Rape, a book by Betsy Apple published and Copyright © 1998 by
EarthRights International is now available on the web at burma.net.  As
this report seeks to analyze the underlying causes of rape by Burmese
soldiers, it examines characteristics of the Tatmadaw that are problematic
and give rise to rape.   You can find the full text by going to
http://burma.net and clicking on WOMEN.

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