Bangkok Post (24/7/99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

Khun Sa held talks with his Wa adversary
Rangoon arranged meeting in April


Subin Khuenkaew


Wei Hsueh-kang of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) has met Khun Sa, his
former boss and bitter enemy, in Rangoon.

The meeting, arranged by Burmese authorities under whose protection Khun Sa
has been living since his surrender in early 1996, took place in April,
sources said.

Border observers who had heard rumours of the meeting soon after it was
held reacted differently.

Some dismissed it as impossible while others speculated on the possibility
of the two teaming up and the catastrophic results it might bring to mostly
young people targetted by drug traffickers.

Speculation faded in the absence of a follow-up to the meeting until last
Tuesday when a former senior member of Khun Sa's defunct Mong Tai Army
entered UWSA territory for talks, a source said, with "leaders from the
other side [of the border]".

An adopted son of Khun Sa, now living in Thailand, said nothing concrete
came out of the April talks but that nearly all of Khun Sa's former
lieutenants were informed.

He declined to say what he would do if Wei, named by Thai and United States
authorities as the most powerful drug lord in the Golden Triangle, teamed
up with Khun Sa.

He said it was a big question for all of Khun Sa's former lieutenants,
engaged in businesses both legal and illegal in Thailand and in Shan State,
and former soldiers now with the Shan State Army, which continues to fight
the Rangoon regime.

"Phor tao couldn't immediately recognise Wei," he said, using the Shan word
for elder, which is often applied to Khun Sa. "He had to be reminded who
Wei was."He said Wei, who was Khun Sa's accountant in the 1970s, apologised
to his former boss for "all he did to him". Wei and his two brothers joined
Khun Sa's Shan United Army in Ban Hin Taek, which was renamed Ban Therd
Thai after the 1982 US-funded operation to get rid of Khun Sa.

Wei was reported to have embezzled money from his boss and was jailed.
However, he escaped and joined his two brothers to start their own drug
business which expanded to rival that of Khun Sa by the early 1990s.

Wei joined the UWSA when it was formed in 1989 and was an important figure
in the military offensive along the Thai-Shan border which contributed to
Khun Sa's demise in 1996.


The adopted son said Khun Sa did not react when Wei apologised.

He said the two talked about developments along the stretch of Thai-Shan
border formerly under Khun Sa's control and since 1996, under the UWSA,
including the booming town of Mong Yawn, opposite Ban San Ton Du, Mae Ai
district, Chiang Mai, the site of the fiercest battle between the two sides.

Zarm Herng, Khun Sa's eldest son, who was put in charge of Ho Mong when his
father surrendered, is rumoured to have linked up with the ethnic Wa two
years ago in drugs trafficking.
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Rangoon urged to stop spread of diseases
Agencies join forces to check smuggling


Supamart Kasem


Bangkok should ask Rangoon to help prevent the spread of diseases from
animals imported from Burma, the Livestock Department said yesterday.

Suvit Phollarp, the department head, said the Foreign Ministry would be
asked to discuss with Burmese authorities how both countries could work
together to prevent the spread of diseases from imported Burmese cattle.

Thailand imports some 100,000 heads of cattle from Burma via Tak yearly.

Mr Suvit said major animal epidemics, such as anthrax and foot-and-mouth
disease, often spread into Thailand from border areas.

It would cost the government over 100 million baht to deal with each animal
epidemic, and studies by Japanese experts showed the cost could reach 1,000
million baht, Mr Suvit told a seminar on the control of animal epidemics
held in Mae Sot district yesterday. According to him, there has been no
report of an epidemic outbreak among animals brought into Tak from Burma
since his department and other agencies joined forces to facilitate cattle
imports to check smuggling.

In 1997, the government earned only 260,480 baht in import taxes as only
1,184 out of a total of 79,947 cattle were brought in from Burma legally.

After the enforcement of measures to facilitate cattle imports, the country
collected about 10 million baht in taxes last year as the number of Burmese
cattle legally imported through Tak rose to 45,544 heads out of a total of
90,297 brought in.

The revenue from cattle import taxes in the first half of this year was
18.4 million baht, he said.
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