Bangkok Post News (27/8/98)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

<bigger>Protesters could be sent back as junta steps up the pressure


</bigger>Rangoon cites Geneva convention on embassy protection


Several Burmese involved in the protest at the Burmese embassy could face
deportation on illegal entry charges following charges following arrests
coinciding with strong diplomatic pressure from Rangoon.

They include six leaders of the protest who were arrested on Sunday and
are being held at the Immigration Detention Centre, officials and Burmese
sources said.

Eight other protesters also recently arrested were sent back to a "safe
area" in Ratchaburi yesterday, said a spokesman of the All-Burma
Students' Democratic Front.

Early reports said all 14 protesters had chosen to be deported rather
than be jailed in Thailand, sparking fears of an imminent pushback across
the border at Mae Sot.

But immigration authorities late yesterday afternoon agreed to let
Burmese still protesting at the embassy meet the six detainees at the IDC
today.

The agreement followed talks, involving representatives of Forum Asia and
the Thai Student Federation and immigration officials, apparently
arranged by the Foreign Ministry.

The Burmese protesters had demanded the release of the six as a condition
for heeding the Foreign Ministry's request urging them to move away from
the embassy vicinity, of at lest pull back from the embassy gates.

The Burmese government over the past two weeks has reminded the Foreign
Ministry twice of Thailand's commitment to the 1961 Geneva Convention to
ensure normal functioning of foreign embassies and due respect for their
countries' dignity.

A letter from Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw to Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan last week specifically drew Thailand's attention to Articles 22
and 25. The letterreinforced a message conveyed a week earlier to the
Thai ambassador in Rangoon, Pensak Chalarak.

Immigration police chief Lt. Genchidchai Wansathit said the 14 were
arrested for illegal entry because they had no evidence to prove how,
when of where they entered the country.

He added that they would be deported as soon as police had completed
investigation the possibility of their having committed additional
offences against Thai law such obstruction of instigation of unrest.

According to a source who asked not to be named, the detained protesters
opted for deportation after an apparent but unclear bid for help from the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refrgees. 

" The leader of the group said they preferred deportation if the UNHCR
could not secure their release in Bangkok. But no request to this effect
was made." Said the source.

The UNHCR assists the 500 Burmese asylum seekers at the "safe area" in
Ratchaburi. But Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan yesterday emphasised that
" persons of concern" to the UNHCR must comply with the UN agency's rules
as well as Thai law.

Pol Lt-Gen Chidchai said Immigration police would continue to keep a
close watch on protesters at the Burmese embassy.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Kobsak Chutikul said he had tried to impress
on the protesters, through their Thai intermediaries, that the "internal
problems of Burma cannot be solved in front of the embassy" in Bangkok.

He urged them to appreciate the "liberal attitude" of the Thai government
and people towards the protest, and warnde them against "harming their
own cause by failure to cooperate".

The freedom of speech allowed by Thailand's constitution applies to Thais
but "not automatically to foreigners," he claimed.

The six detained include Zaw win, described as the overall leader of the
protest. The others were identified by Thai non-government sources as
Nyein Moe, Chit Phwe, Khaing Gyi, Myat Kyaw Aung, and Guan Tee, and  are
said to belong to three exiled Burmese student groups, including those
known by the acronyms ABBSU, ONSOB and the BSA.


<bigger><bigger>Missing Burmese plane found safe

</bigger></bigger>

An Air Myanmar plane carrying an estimate 39 people has been found safe
and sound on a small airfield in Laos after going missing for almost 36
hours, Thai and Burmese official said yesterday.

Air Myanmar officials in Rangoon said the Fokker F-27 aircraft made an
emergency landing in Laos on Monday after being diverted from its
destination at Tachilek in Burma's sparsely populated eastern Shan State
due to bad weather.

They said all 39 Burmese nationals on board were safe.


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