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Bangkok Post News (18199)



Headlines:

1): Karenni and Shan groups agree alliance
2): Humanitarian needs 'should be paramount'
    US lawmaker says aid must resume
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1):Karenni and Shan groups agree alliance
Rebels expect attack from nearby garrison
Don Pathan and Bangkok Post
Saw Haw, Burma, AP

Two ethnic rebel groups have forged a coalition to wage guerrilla warfare
against Burma's military regime, which has launched a dry season offensive
targeting rebels near the border with Thailand, an insurgent leader said
yesterday.
The agreement was forged a week ago between the Karenni National
Progressive Party ( KNPP ) and the Shan State Army (SSA), which say they
can together field about 6,000 fighters.
" We will continue to fight and employ guerrilla tactics. The number of
troops is not important. They can't defeat is because they can't find us,"
said Karenni military leader Bee Htoo at his remote jungle training camp.
He said government forces were lodged only 10 kilometres from the camp and
were expected to strike against the rebels as part of a general border
offensive.
The Karenni group is also allied with the largest insurgent force fighting
the central government, the Karen National Union.
The SSA, which was formed in 1964, has been reshaping itself after its
former commander Khun Sa abandoned his forces three years and surrendered
to the Burmese junta.
The Shan have traditionally been associated with the drug trade, but the
SSA's new leadership has offered to work with groups against the drug trade
provided they acknowledge the realities of the lives of poppy growers.
Successive central government regimes in Burma have sought to suppress
rebellious ethnic minorities since the country gained independence from
Britain in 1949.
Most of the groups are seeking greater autonomy, but Bee Htoo said the KNPP
was struggling for independence, although it would consider a federation as
long such an arrangement was not dominated by the country's Burman majority.
" I think of independence but I can't predict the future," said Major Soe
Myint Aung, the camp commander who has been fighting for 45 years. " I am
68 years old now and I'll continue to be an instructor until I die."
Bee Htoo said Saw Haw, 11 kilometres from the Thai frontier province of Mae
Hong Son, was one of five Karenni military training camps. Each took in
between 45 and 60 recruits for three-month courses.

Some of the recruits are as young as 14 and almost all are poorly equipped
and armed.
The men are mostly from villages in Burma's kayah State, where the military
has waged what human rights organisations have branded a ruthless campaign
which includes forced relocations of villagers to " holding centres".
Fleeing a relocation order, some 300 Karenni fled into Mae Hong Son on
Saturday after an eight-day trek, according to refugee workers.
An estimated 100,000 refugees from Burma are seeking temporary asylum in
camps along the Thai border.

2): Humanitarian needs 'should be paramount'
US lawmaker says aid must resume
Bangkok, AFP

A United States congressman appealed yesterday for large-scale humanitarian
aid to Burma, rejecting arguments that such aid would merely sustain the
Southeast Asian country's harsh military regime.
" Humanitarian concerns are taking a back seat in Burma. But I've always
believed that human concerns and human rights go together," Tony Hall, an
Ohio Democrat, said.
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with whom Rep Hall met last
week, opposes foreign aid to her country, saying some 50 percent of it is
siphoned off by the military.
Rep Hall quoted Mrs Suu kyi as saying she would reverse her stance only if
there was a 100 percent guarantee that foreign aid would not go to
supporting the government.
But Rep Hall said Burma was plagued by malnutrition, disease, poor
education and the repid spread of Aid. Burma is ranked as one of the
world's poorest nations.
" If humanitarian aid is not provided a whole generation will be lost. The
need is tremendous," Rep Hall said, adding that waiting to provide foreign
assistance until democracy was restored might take years and thus prolong
poverty and suffering.
" Burma is a noble cause, but it is also a country of 48 million people who
need help, and I challenge the activists for human rights to work hard to
meet people's humanitarian needs," he said.
Rep Hall said he brought up human rights abuses, political prisoners and
brutality against ethnic minorities in his meeting with junta strongman
General Khin Nyunt.
He also noted the political struggle between the military and Mrs Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy had resulted in neglect of basic needs among
the masses.
Rep Hall predicted US economic sanctions against Burma would stand and did
not foresee reconciliation between Mrs Suu Kyi and the military.
But he quoted Khin Nyunt as saying the regime would be "gentle and lenient"
with the opposition.
 .US diplomats in Rangoon said it was the first such statement by the
military gobernmemt.
Rep Hall said Khin Nyunt had not explained what he meant by the comment.
Also commenting on US policy following a visit to Laos, Rep Hall yesterday
said religious persecution in the country remained a major hurdle
preventing the US from granting trade concessions.
He expressed displeasure that eight Laotians who were imprisoned in
February last year for worshiping at an unauthorised Christian service had
not been released.
Authorities initially arrested 44 persons at the service, deporting three
Americans and releasing  all but the eight Laotians in attendance.

Rep Hall also travelled to southern Laos to inspect a crash site where
remains of US servicemen killed in action were found recently.
He praised efforts by the Laotian government to help resolve the fates of
more than 400 serviceman missing in action in Laos, describing it as
central to America's "greatly improved" ties with Laos over the past four
years.

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