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Bangkok Post(10/7/99)



<bold>No waiving of new permit terms

</bold>

Firms must agree to meet all conditions


Supamart Kasem

Permits to import logs from Burma will be issued to any company which
complies with the conditions, Forestry Department chief Plodprasop
Suraswadi said yesterday.


These were intended to ensure the timber was genuinely Burmese, and not
trees felled illegally in Thailand.


"People who want to import logs from Burma must follow four procedures.
Any company that can meet these requirements can import logs," Mr
Plodprasop said during a trip to the border forests with Lt-Gen
Watanachai Chaimuanwong, commander of the Third Army.


An importer must arrange for forestry officials to inspect the logs in
Burma, set up a log yard at least three kilometres from the border and
away from any forest reserve, import one lot of logs at a time, and mark
imported logs with bar codes.


A spokesman for four companies which have applied for import permits said
on Thursday the conditions were unacceptable.


Mr Plodprasop said that in the past, forestry officers did not inspect
logs in Burma. That provided opportunities for traders to claim illegal
Thai logs as Burmese imports.


Burmese logs should also be brought in through permanent border passes.
Any temporary border passes would need approval from the Interior
Ministry and the National Security Council, he said.


Measures to prevent importers bringing in wooden Burmese furniture made
from illegally felled Thai trees would be discussed at a meeting with the
director-general of the Customs Department next Friday.


Mr Plodprasop expressed concern about the relocation of Burmese refugee
camps to forest areas in Tak province.


"There is nothing to guarantee that the refugees will not encroach on
forest reserves and destroy them.


"We agreed with the move after being told it's for national security and
is only temporary," he said.

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<bold>Rebels kill 3 soldiers

</bold>


Three Rangoon soldiers were reported killed and many wounded in a clash
with Karenni National Progressive Party rebels inside Burma near the Thai
border yesterday.


After the clash, the KNPP base at Doi Luang in Kayah state, opposite
Muang district of Mae Hong Son, was heavily pounded by artillery.



Further skirmishing was reported, but no additional casualties.


The KNPP base is 3km northeast of Nam Piang Din border pass in Muang
district.


A Thai military source said the first clash took place at about 4.30am,
when a Rangoon-trained eight-man commando unit trying to probe the KNPP
base was ambushed by the Karennis.


Three Burmese soldiers were killed and many others wounded. The Karenni
rebels captured three weapons-an M-16, an AK-47 and a G-3.


Burmese artillery from battalion 531 at Huay Pong base and battalion 428
at Thana Khway fired more than 70 artillery and 60mm mortar rounds at the
KNPP base.


The 7th Infantry Regiment subsequently despatched military and border
patrol units, backed by several 120mm field guns, to strengthen Thai
bases along the border in Muang and Khun Yuam districts.


Infantry from Kawila camp in Chiang Mai were also rushed to the border
area to provide protection for about 20,000 Karenni refugees at two
holding centres in Muang and Khun Yuam districts.

----------------------------------------------------------

<bold>Foreign help vetoed


'Mandela unable to fathom the situation'

</bold>Burma's military government has recevied no outside offers of
mediation to resolve the deadlock with the pro-democracy opposition,and
will solve its problems on its own, Foreign Minister Win Aung said.


A European Union delegation that visited the country this week had made
no such offer,nor had former South African President Nelson Mandela
despite reports he could consider such a role,Win Aung said on 
Thursday.


"It would not be reasonable to do so(offer to mediate) because it is our
domestic affair,"the minister said.


A South African diplomat said last month Mr Mandela would consider acting
as a mediator between the military and the opposition which is led by his
fellow Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.The diplomat said Mr Mandela
was willing to consider the role if formally asked by the opposition.


"I think Mr Mandela can't understand our politics," " Win Aung said. " We
don't  mean that we have solved the problems. We are trying to solve the
problems by peaceful means by ourselves. Our problems are very 
complex."

Win Aung said a visit by a mikranking EU delegation this week had been
confined to fact-finding. 

" Therefore, we told them what they wanted to know. " 

EU diplomats said the delegation went to Burma to look at reestablishing
a dialogue with the government in the interests of pro9moting human
rights and a rapprochement between the opposition and military. 

The Eu is also interested in repairing its relationship with the
Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean), which has been damaged by
the grouping's formal admission of Burma in 1997.

Burma's treatments of the opposition, including the arrest and detention
of hundreds of its members, has led the European Union to bar Burmese
officials from its region, forcing the cancellation of  a high level
meeting of the two blocs earlier this year. 


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