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Bangkok Post (3/6/99)



<center><bold>Checkpoint reopened 

</bold></center>

<bold>Tak

</bold>

Thai authorities reopened a temporary border checkpoint in Phop Phra
district yesterday after pro-Rangoon Karen forces agreed to compensate
for damage caused to local Thai villagers by their recent cross-border
shelling.


The checkpoint at Ban Valey, closed in mid-April, was reopened yesterday
by Col Chayuti Boonparn, commander of the Fourth Infantry Regiment Task
Force.


Border officials ordered the closure of the checkpoint, which provided
access to Burma's Tisalae village, after the Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army fired heavy artillery rounds into Thai territory. The shelling
caused some 30,000 baht worth of damage to properties of local Thai
villagers, a source said.


The closure had adversely affected cross-border trading between the two
countries, the source said, adding the trade volume at this checkpoint
amounted to about one million baht daily.


According to the source, the checkpoint is a major furniture export
market for the DKBA.