The BurmaNet News: April 19, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: April 19, 1999
Issue #1253

HEADLINES:
==========
SHAN: 11 SHAN REFUGEES BEATEN TO DEATH 
AP: SUU KYI'S YOUNGEST SON ARRIVES IN BURMA 
THE NATION: STILL LIFE IN KHAKI 
THE NATION: ROLE OF THE EDUCATED IN THE REVOLUTION 
THE NATION: MIRIAM SEGAL HAS A SUCCESSOR IN BURMA 
REUTERS: ASIA-EU MEETING SET FOR MAY 24-26 
THE NATION: GOVERNMENT SEEKS HELP ON DEATHS 
****************************************************************

SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS: 11 SHAN REFUGEES BEATEN TO DEATH NEAR THAI BORDER
18 April, 1999  

Eleven Shan refugees fleeing to Thailand were captured by SPDC troops and
beaten to death on April 13 and 14 near a Shan village about 12 km from the
Thai border opposite Chiang Mai province, local villagers have reported.
The eleven refugees, including one woman, were among a group of about 300
refugees who were rounded up on their way from central Shan State to the
Thai border and detained at the SPDC IB 225 military camp at Na Kong Moo,
on the road that leads from Murng Ton to Nong Ook, the border crossing
north of Chiang Dao.

The refugees who were killed were accused of supporting the resistance
forces of the Shan States Army (South) back in their home villages. They
were taken from the military camp and beaten to death in the jungle about 5
kms west of Na Kong Moo by a group of SPDC troops and local Lahu militia.
The victims were taken in groups to be killed. On April 13 the five
refugees killed were: Sai Nu, aged 27, from Wan Pang village, Nong Hee
tract, Nam Zarng township; Sai Sor, aged 30, Wan Koon Sarng village, Koon
Mong tract, Namzarng township; Sai Arya, aged 26, from Wan Koon Na village,
Hai Seng tract, Laikha township; Sai Tor Ya, aged 25, from Na Oon village,
Ban Sang tract, Laikha township; Sai Nor, aged 21, from Hai Gooi village,
Hai Gooi tract, Lang Kher township.

On April 14, the six refugees killed were: Sai Loon, aged 21, from Wan Long
Tong village, Na Loi tract, Murng Nai township; Sai Toon, aged 20, from Wan
Na Keng village, Keng Lom tract, Kun Hing township; Sai Yord, aged 22, from
Wan Khai village, Keng Lom tract, Kun Hing township; Sai Lon, aged 24, from
Nong Wo village, Murng Nang tract, Ke See township; and Sai Kham Sang, aged
29, and Nang Teng, aged 25, both from Murng Kerng township. The remaining
300 refugees, including about 50 children, are still being detained at the
military base at Na Kong Moo.


The refugees have fled from the areas of forced relocation in Shan State.
About 300,000 villagers have been forced from their homes by the SPDC
military since 1996 in a massive anti-insurgency campaign aimed at cutting
off civilian support for the Shan resistance forces. It is estimated that
well over 100,000 refugees have fled from these areas of forced relocation
to Thailand during the past 3 years.

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

AP: SUU KYI'S YOUNGEST SON ARRIVES IN BURMA
17 April, 1999  

THE youngest son of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi arrived yesterday
in Burma to visit her, a month after last ditch appeals by his father to
see her before dying were turned down by the military government.

Kim Aris, 21, who lives in Britain, was greeted by his mother at Rangoon
airport, the government said in a news release, and were "provided
necessary assistance by the officials concerned".

"The government wishes Kim an enjoyable stay in Rangoon and also wishes
both of them, 'A very happy Burmese New Year", it said.

Burma celebrated traditional Buddhist New Year this week.

The statement said that an unspecified number of members of Suu Kyi's
opposition party, the National League for Democracy, had been freed from
detention for the holidays but were expected to return to what the
government calls guest houses".

Michael Aris, a professor of Tibetan studies at Oxford University, died on
March 27 of prostate cancer at a London hospital. After learning he was
terminally ill, Aris had unsuccessfully petitioned the Burmese government
for months to allow him a visa to visit his wife.

In a recent interview with London's Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Suu Kyi
said that her two sons, Kim and Alex, 25, had urged her to leave Burma to
visit Aris in Britain before he died.

The ruling State Peace and Development Council offered her a visa to go,
but Suu Kyi declined, fearing she wouldn't be allowed back into the country.

Kim Aris last saw his mother in September 1997. A diplomat said on
condition of anonymity that the visit would be short, but provided no other
details.

The telephone to Suu Kyi's house, which is under constant surveillance, is
often out of order. Phone calls seeking to confirm the visit yesterday were
unanswered.

In a taped interview presented a week ago at the UN Commission on Human
Rights, Suu Kyi described 1998 as the worst year for the democracy movement
in the decade she has been waging-a war of wills with the government.

Hundreds of NLD members have been detained at government guest houses for
what authorities call "an exchange of views" and are only freed when they
agree to quit the party.

Suu Kyi, though freed from six years of house arrest in 1995, is not
allowed outside the capital.

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

THE NATION: STILL LIFE IN KHAKI
17 April, 1999 by Taylor Freeman

THE DEFENCE SERVICES MUSEUM IN RANGOON, WHICH IS THE TATMADAW'S MONUMENT TO
ITSELF, REVEALS MORE BY WHAT IS NOT ON DISPLAY, WRITES TAYLOR FREEMAN.

** Soldiers of armies storm empty fields 
In a traveller's trance on the way to the high frontier 

Sleepwalkers stumble, cable cars running round 
Imaginary enemies form high above the clouds 
In the mountains of Burma 
The road to Mandalay 
In the mountains of Burma, light years away. 
- "Mountains of Burma" by Australian rock band Midnight Oil. **

After victory in battle, Burmese rulers would traditionally order the
construction of a pagoda. They believed this act of piety would gain them
merit in the afterlife and blot out the sin of taking life.

After nearly 40 years of crushing dissent and running their nation's
economy into the ground, the Burmese military dictatorship has built a new
kind of pagoda though it has nothing to do with creating good karma.

The Defence Services Museum in Rangoon is the Tatmadaw's (Burmese
military's) monument to itself. The eight-year-old building is a dark
celebration of the armed forces' stranglehold on that country.

The museum is on Shwedagon Pagoda Road, opposite the shimmering,
mirror-covered Sein Yong Chi temple Green military jeeps, ready for action,
are parked at each corner.

Barbed-wire barricades "adorn" the footpath. A thick, high iron fence
circles the perimeter. Under the shade of tamarind trees, soldiers in bush
hats finger automatic rifles, smoke long, thin cheroots, and eye passers-by
suspiciously.

A cannon, a Sherman tank, and a fighter-bomber rest in the yard among
bright tropical flowers.

I swerve around the bayonet wielded by a nervous looking soldier and
approach the ticket booth. An elderly civilian in a sarong, his mouth
stained red with betel nut, holds out his palm.

"Three dollars." I fork over one of the slick new five-dollar Foreign
Exchange Certificates foreigners must buy on arrival at the airport. Giving
me change, the old man knocks over the lime-paste makings of his chew and a
viscous fluid oozes onto the pavement.

In a city filled with gilt pagodas and Victorian architecture, the
three-storey museum is remarkable for its plainness. I make my way towards
the entrance.

A horse-sized Chinthe, the traditional Burmese lion-dog statue, stares me
down. Three metre-high double doors and mouldy marble walls suggest a
third-rate convention centre or seedy resort.

A small team of security people swoop into action. "No cameras in the
museum!" I hand over my Nikon, receiving a red plastic disc in return. I
feel someone watching me and look up.

>From the walls of the entry-way, photographs of Burma's reigning despots
stare down.

Once known as SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council), Burma's
ruling clique abandoned this sinister acronym in November '97 for the
benign-sounding name, "State Peace and Development Council".

Some of the portraits show army officers in tan uniforms or in traditional
jackets and sarongs. Though bearing self-satisfied smiles, the faces all
seem to silently demand, "Halt!, who goes there?"

>From within the building emanates the sound of electric sanders and
workmen shouting.

Apparently, the Defence Services museum is a work still in progress.

Off to the right, a sign explains, "Without Communication You Can't Command
and Control". Mannequins in combat gear and rows of musty-looking radio
transmitters from the 1940s dominate an exhibit devoted to the army signal
corps.


Glossy colour photos hang from a partition; they show soldiers operating
computers and tracking devices.

The communications equipment is presented as mysterious and other-worldly,
beyond the comprehension of mere civilians much like the way this country
is governed.

The next gallery focuses on the Tatmadaw transport division. A camouflaged
mobile-command van bristles with antennae. Behind a rope barrier sits a
dignified old Rolls Royce, its black finish thick with dust.

Inexplicably, a bunch of plastic-looking plants has been wedged between the
seat and steering wheel. A plaque explains that the car belonged to
independent Burma's first head of state.

What isn't stated is that ex-president Sao Shwe Thaike died in prison under
suspicious circumstances after the military coup of March 2, 1962.

I'm drawn further into the gallery, still waiting for something definitive
to be said or shown. The displays are bland, purposeless, without context:
radios; cars; a glass case full of model trucks, bright yellow and red,
hauling trailers full of goods.

Two young Burmese couples, each with a young child, meander past.

The admission fee for locals is the equivalent of Bt2, cheaper than buying
a ticket to see one of the gaudy Indian movies playing downtown; still,
there are few visitors on this Sunday afternoon. Wide-eyed, the little
group stares at the costly articles on display.

Deeper into the bowels of the museum and its real point becomes clearer.
Here, in glass cases, are row after row of products from army-run
factories: canned fish from F&D Laboratories; Dagon Dairy tinned milk;
cheap clothing; boots; shoddy sports equipment; automatic rifles. Dioramas
of Tatmadaw pig farms, cattle ranches, salt mines.

PR-style photos show uniformed VIPs cutting ribbons, shaking hands,
addressing crowds.

On a nearby plaque, Senior General Than Shwe, head of the SPDC, lays down
his political economic, and social programme key (apparently) is the
"priority local products must be given".

Considering the military's dominance in Burma's economy, this is hardly a
surprising or a brave stand.

Like grave markers, lines of ordnance and ammunition casings line the
artillery-corps exhibit. Three crimson-robed monks walk under signs
announcing   "Artillery is the God of War" and "Tanks are a Life-Saving
Weapon".

On the walls, naive paintings in bold pastels show Tatmadaw troops
destroying a tank with recoilless rifles, and calling in air-strikes
against distant positions manned by faceless adversaries (the identity of
the well-armed enemy is a mystery).

A huge, hangar-like hall at the far end of the museum houses some 13
military aircraft.

There's a WW II-vintage Dakota transport, old British Spitfires, a modern
French- built Alouette helicopter. A recruiting-type poster - a buxom
Burmese girl outfitted like a pilot leaning on a jet fighter - celebrates
the air force's 50th anniversary.

There's nothing left to see so I turn to leave the nearly empty museum.
Passing again under those Orwellian signs which deify artillery and talk of
the "life saving" qualities of tanks, I realise the central truth in this
place is that which is not shown.


There are no displays here of the torture carried out by military
intelligence personnel at Insein Prison. There are no exhibits on forced
labourers in chains, on women being raped by the armed forces.

There are no photographs of soldiers slaughtering unarmed civilians during
the pro-democracy uprising of 1988.

And there are no statistics detailing Burma's decline from its former
status as "rice basket of Southeast Asia" to its current position as
regional basket case under army rule.

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

THE NATION: ROLE OF THE EDUCATED IN THE REVOLUTION
18 April, 1999 by Win Htein  

WHERE ARE THE EDUCATED, AND WHY ARE THEY NOT LEADING THE FIGHT FOR BURMA'S
FREEDOM? WIN HTEIN TAKES A LOOK AT WHAT SOME OF THEM HAVE TO SAY.

** MOST EDUCATED BURMESE WANT TO GO TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES RATHER THAN TO
LEAD PEOPLE TO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS AND FOR A CHANGE OF GOVERNMENT FROM
THE MILITARY TO A DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM. 'WE CANNOT DEMOCRACY TO BRING TO
BURMA, SO WE GO TO DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES!' IT IS A BIG JOKE AMONG THE EXILED
STUDENTS IN THE SAFE AREA **

In the middle of March, about 900 Burmese students were permitted to go to
the "safe area", Baan Maniloi, Ratchaburi, southwest of Bangkok. There they
must wait to go to third countries. This is the largest number of students
to enter the safe camp at one time in the past eight years.

There are about 600 students staying in this camp who have obtained refugee
status from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Bangkok
office.

"Since November 1992, about 900 students have gone to third countries," Ko
Aung Htun, a 38-year-old former student from Rangoon University, told the
Democratic Voice of Burma. Now, he is a leader in the Burmese Students
Association (BSA) in the safe area.

The camp, formerly a unit of the Border Patrol Police (BPP), has the
official name of the "Burmese Students' Centre". There are ten barracks and
several huts in the approximately 1,000 square metre compound.

Some students are sleeping without a fan under a hot zinc roof. Some are
sitting and talking while they smoke in the tea and betel nut shops. A few
are in the library and some of their children are studying in Dawn School.

An official of the Thai Home Ministry controls the camp, which is
coordinated by the UNHCR. There have been many problems between the Thai
authorities and students seeking more S rights, such as more electricity,
larger barracks, more frequent travel, more political activities and more
open media etc.

However, the United States, Canada and Australia are becoming the students'
new homelands because in their minds there is no alternative for their
future. Most of them are former members of the All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF), which was founded on the Thai-Burma border after
the 8888 popular uprising.

"We are democratic, so anyone can choose their own way. We should not
control them. But it must be clear, the ABSDF never urges people to go away
from Burma. Our main forces are inland. We hope that they will continue the
struggle in their own way, and go back to Burma after their studies,"
explained Ko Aung Naing Oo, the spokesperson of the ABSDF, about the
Front's policy for the students.


Why do people want to go to third countries?

"Because we have no option. We cannot go back to Burma and we cannot live
in Thailand," said a former member who recently resigned from the ABSDF.
"We must choose our own way for our future. If I could go back to Burma
with a guarantee of being a political activist, I'm sure I would not have
chosen this refugee way".

But some exiled students did not agree with his comment. "I think we have
some options. We should choose to stay in Thailand if we want to continue
the struggle because it's the nearest country. There are one million
Burmese living here, why is it just the students who cannot stay?"
complained an exiled Burmese student who is now an NGO worker in Bangkok.

A senior leader of the ABSDF disapproved of students applying to go to
third countries. He said in a border camp, "When people take this option
the revolutionary forces on the border and inside Burma lose numbers and
strength."

Despite the controversy, 80 per cent of exiled educated Burmese try to go
third countries. Why?

Moreover, on the other side of the border, the SPDC controlled area, what
is the situation of educated people?

Inside Burma, about 15 per cent of educated people go to foreign countries
to find good jobs. This is because the military rulers have no respect for
their status. They have no right to talk, write, or think freely. In Burma,
if someone has a fax machine or access to the Internet, there is a
punishment of seven years jail. Another problem is that salaries are so poor.

"There are two points. First, we don't like the military ruler and second,
we need a higher salary," said a Burmese lecturer in Bangkok's Assumption
Business Administration College (Abac) University.

Her monthly salary in Rangoon University was 1750 kyat (Bt175) and she had
no right to make any suggestions to the university. Now, in Bangkok, her
salary is nearly Bt20,000, she has her own computer with Internet access
and her opinion is valued.

At the same time, some young educated rebels are still fighting the junta
by armed struggle in the jungle along the border. They describe educated
people who have gone to foreign countries as "selfish".

What is the role of educated people in Burma's revolution?

Most analysts have said that the world situation has changed already from
favouring armed struggle to dialogue. The middle class (educated people)
are the leaders of the next revolutions.

For example in May 1992 in Thailand, educated people led a revolution by
demonstrating against the military dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon in
Bangkok's streets.

About 60 per cent of Thais are middle class (educated people). How large is
the middle class in Burma? No one can say with precision.

"Asian countries have some differences in their backgrounds. Thailand the
Philippines and Korea are developed, so their revolution was led by the
middle class. But Burma, Indonesia and Cambodia are not yet developed so
they do not have a strong middle class," commented a Burmese journalist
studying political science in London.

Obviously, the educated Burmese people are afraid of the authorities more
than in any other country. They are easy for the generals to control
because they work in government departments as civil servants. There are no
independent academics, civil institutions, NGOs, etc in Burma.


Even people living outside Burma are still afraid of the generals. "The MIS
[Military Intelligence Service] know everything about us, they have records
for everyone in their embassies. If I give an interview, first they will
cancel my passport and then they will warn my family in Rangoon," said an
engineer in Bangkok.

This is the case not only for engineers but also for 90 per cent of
Burmese, including some journalists who work for foreign-based news
agencies and for radio stations.

Dr Myo Nyunt, a Burmese Economics professor from Edith Cowan University in
Australia, commented in an interview with DVB: "All educated people don't
like military rule. We want a change to a new government in our country.

"But know, the Burmese generals are different to rulers in any other part
of the world. They are very cruel and very obstinate and they never respond
to the world community's pressure."

The lecturer from Abac agreed with his comment. "Educated people in Burma
had a role in which they did not openly challenge the control of the
military. Because of this educated people obey illegal commands of ignorant
people [soldiers]. So I decided in my mind never to go back to Burma before
there is democracy."

Almost all educated Burmese share her opinion. But the question is "Who
will bring democracy to Burma for them?" They forget their role in the
democracy movement. Therefore; the educated people are more afraid of the
junta than the grassroots people are!

"You Burmese are not only afraid but also wracked with disunity. I have met
many opposition groups in exile. If you cannot fix these problems, how you
can face a strong army?" a western journalist said in criticising his
Burmese counterparts.

"I see everyone waiting and hoping for Aung San Suu Kyi to reach for
democracy. But they are not listening to her 'freedom from fear', they are
still afraid".

However, most educated Burmese want to go to foreign countries rather than
to lead people to fight for their rights and for a change of government
from the military to a democratic system.

"We cannot bring democracy to Burma, so we go to democratic countries!" It
is a big joke among the exiled students in the safe area.

"We want to study modern technology and science in developed countries. One
day, I hope we can help Burma as academics in the re-established country,"
said the former member of the ABSDF.

How many people are just waiting for that "one day"? How many people are
really fighting to take that "one day"? Obviously, that "one day" cannot be
reached automatically.

"We [educated people] are not policy makers. We are just policy
instruments. We have spent over ten years in the jungle and we have no
chance here to study further. So, the leaders must think about how to solve
this brain drain," the former member continued.

Actually, no one wants to stay in the jungle or under the military rulers
in Burma. So why do people still live in the jungle and under the soldiers?

"We are the new generation of the 8888 uprising. There must be an end to
the military dictator in our era. This is our 8888 generation's historical
task," claimed the ABSDF senior leader.


No one would argue that the educated should study in developed countries
for the re-establishment of Burma. But this does not mean that all educated
people from Burma should go to foreign countries.

What is the role of the educated in the coming uprising?

Are they just waiting outside the country until democracy is achieved? Or
are they leading people in the struggle for Burma?

Win Htein is a correspondent for the Democratic Voice of Burma.

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

THE NATION: MIRIAM SEGAL HAS A SUCCESSOR IN BURMA
17 April, 1999 

When a group of foreign reporters met with Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi in
Rangoon in late February, they were also treated to the spectacle of an
irate bearded white man shouting through a window.

Burma's military junta may not have a lot of Western friends, but those who
pledge their allegiance can be a mite peculiar. Old hands recall Miriam
Marshall Segal, a New York businesswomen and investor who looked like
someone's aunt and conducted a one-woman PR campaign for the Rangoon regime
- in the manner of someone's aunt.

Segal, who is Jewish, earned notoriety by invoking the holocaust in
pro-military testimony about Burma before the US Congress in 1994. But she
faded from the scene after she was sued by Peregrine Holdings Inc, the
now-defunct Hong Kong investment bank whose representative and partner she
was, accusing her of conspiring to cheat them.

Segal's heir in spirit appears to be the bearded man who has no press
affiliation that other reporters are aware of, but claims to be part of the
journalistic fraternity and to be writing a book.

Why he is able to spend so much time in Burma while genuine reporters have
to beg for a week's stay is a matter of conjecture, as is the question of
how he makes ends meet. Diplomats and Burmese journalists think of him as a
propagandist for the government.

What, for example, was the suave man doing at the invitation-only opening
of February's controversial international heroin conference, where he
amiably schmoosed with visiting reporters? He was not on the official list
of delegates and media. And what was he doing two days afterwards at a news
conference called by Aung San Suu Kyi, to which he was definitely not invited?

His cool and calm pose was abandoned when he was not allowed into the house
of NLD deputy leader Tin Oo, where Suu Kyi was holding court. She is, of
course, barred by the authorities from hosting almost any visitors at her
own home.

Tin Oo had politely told him he was not welcome to attend - understandably
so, since the hack-turned-flack took advantage of his attendance on several
similar occasions last year to harangue and harass Suu Kyi and colleagues.

At a news conference shortly after one of Suu Kyi's standoffs with the
authorities who barred her from travelling upcountry, to cite one example,
he used a question to make insinuations about the pro-democracy leader's
love life.

He was rebuked by a top US diplomat, also in the audience, who remarked in
a voice that everyone was meant to hear that "that is the stupidest
question I have ever heard".


At Tin Oo's house, he was reduced to beseeching arriving journalists at
the doorstep for sympathy and solidarity, but was met with indifference.

A furious Tin Oo, who told him he was trespassing on private property,
practically had to be restrained from physically ejecting the unwelcome guest.

As the question-and-answer session with Suu Kyi was set to begin, those
present were astonished to hear shouting at the window. It was him, in a
frenzy accusing the beleaguered NLD leader of failing to practice democracy
by not admitting him to the meeting.

They had to let him in, he cried, because he was a member of the press and
this was a press conference - a non sequitur marrying a false minor premise
to a false major premise.

Failing to draw any reaction from the reporters present, who acted as if
nothing was happening, he backed off.

He spent the next 15 minutes or so on a bench outside, muttering to himself.

Suu Kyi was the only one to comment on the episode, wondering out loud
"what sort of journalist" this was.

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

REUTERS: ASIA-EU MEETING SET FOR MAY 24-26-THAILAND
16 April, 1999 

BANGKOK, April 16 (Reuters) - A junior-level European Union-Association of
Southeast Asian Nations meeting, shelved in January because of Myanmar's
human rights record, will be held from May 24 to 26, Thailand's foreign
minister said on Friday.

``The EU and ASEAN recognised the fact that the relations must go on,''
Surin Pitsuwan told a news conference.

``There are differences, there are reservations and reluctance on both
sides on some of the issues...but I think the last few months we have been
able to narrow down the differences and overall relations between us have
taken the priority over the differences.''

The meeting in Bangkok of the Joint Cooperation Committee would be the
first between the two blocs since 1996. It was supposed to have been held
in January, but was scrapped over EU objections to Myanmar participating
because of that country's human rights record.

Surin, who led ASEAN efforts to revive the meeting, has said Myanmar will
take part ``passively.''

A more senior meeting set for late last month of foreign ministers from the
EU and ASEAN was scrapped because the EU would not allow Myanmar to attend.

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

THE NATION: GOVERNMENT SEEKS HELP FROM BURMESE ON VILLAGERS' DEATHS
17 April, 1999 by Rita Patiyasevi

THAILAND yesterday sought assistance from the Burmese military government
to help solve the mystery behind the deaths of nine Thai villagers believed
to have been killed by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), one of Burma's
armed ethnic groups operating along the Thai-Burmese border, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman said.

Thailand has asked Burma to provide it with any intelligence concerning the
deaths of the villagers, whose bodies were found two weeks ago scattered
along the border in Chaing Mai's Fang district, spokesman Don Pramudwinai
said.

A formal request was made yesterday when Minister/Counsellor U Nyan Lynn
from the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok met Foreign Ministry Deputy Director
General Kitti Wasinond to discuss the case.


Burmese officials said they would forward the request to Rangoon. Without
naming names, they said they believed the killing had been carried out by
one of the country's armed ethnic groups operating along the border, Don said.

However, it is widely believed by Thai authorities that the killing was
carried out by troops from the UWSA, one of the world's largest armed
narcotic trafficking groups which operates out of the infamous Golden
Triangle.

Authorities investigating the killing said it may have been linked to the
UWSA's narcotics activities in Thailand.

The UWSA came into existence about a decade ago, shortly after the fall of
the Communist Party of Burma. A ceasefire agreement between Rangoon and the
20,000-strong UWSA was signed shortly afterwards. The group has since
expanded its military and heroin operations from the Chinese-Burmese border
to an area near the Thai border.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai had said that Thailand's northern region
bordering Burma's Shan State where the killing took place is vulnerable to
a number of illegal activities. The premier said both countries needed to
work together to clear the drug-infested border.

A number of government agencies in Thailand, including the army, the
interior ministry and the police, are expected to meet soon to discuss the
closing of some temporary checkpoints along the border for security reasons.
****************************************************************