Bangkok seeks UN aid to resettle ac

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Subject: Bangkok seeks UN aid to resettle activists

Bangkok seeks UN aid to resettle activists
     Posted on 10/10/99, 09:43 AM CST. Email this story to a friend.

     Source: SCMP.
     Posted by: ShweInc NEWs

     WILLIAM BARNES and AGENCIES in Bangkok 

     Thailand asked the United Nations refugee agency yesterday to play a
bigger role in resettling exiled Burmese activists following
     the storming of Rangoon's embassy by radical student gunmen. 

     The move came at a meeting between National Security Council chief
Khachadpai Burusapatana and the head of the UN High
     Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok. 

     "We asked the UNHCR to be more active by co-ordinating with [Burma] to
take back some 100,000 displaced persons, and to
     find third countries to accept exiled students," said Mr Khachadpai. 

     So far, only a few countries had shown any interest in sheltering
Burmese activists, he said. 

     "I want to warn all [Burmese] students to stop any political movements
here. If they want to conduct political activities, go to the
     United States where there is 100 per cent democracy," he said. 

     Earlier yesterday, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai had criticised
the Burmese junta for its bizarre combination of praise and
     censure over Thailand's handling of last weekend's embassy hostage
drama. 

     Mr Chuan said that while the regime had offered comprehensive formal
thanks for ending the 26-hour siege without loss of life, it
     also censured Thailand for allegedly handling the hostage-takers with
kid gloves. 

     "They send a letter to thank us, yet their officials also criticise
us. The [embassy hijackers] came to our country because they
     could not solve their problems at home. So [Burma] cannot criticise
us," he said. 

     This is unusually sharp comment from a normally cautious premier, but
it reflects increasing Thai irritation with a regime that
     appears unable or unwilling to get to grips with political and
economic problems that have flooded Thailand with refugees, exiles
     and drugs. 

     Yet Burma's regime also feels that a fellow member of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations and "good neighbour" should
     not so obviously sympathise with its opponents. 

     The junta has spiced its criticism with more than words: it has not
only closed its 2,100km border with Thailand, but also
     suspended all Thai fishing fleet contracts for "safety reasons". 

     Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, who yesterday summoned Burma's
ambassador to seek a solution to bilateral tensions,
     said afterwards: "The border closure and fishery concession
termination contradict our good faith in relations with [Burma]." 

     Ambassador Hla Maung said the measures were for security purposes. 

     Five heavily armed dissidents seized the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok a
week ago yesterday and held 89 hostages overnight
     until a Thai police helicopter flew them to a jungle border sanctuary
on Saturday afternoon. 

     Rangoon had initially told Bangkok that it could take whatever
measures might be necessary to end the siege soon after it
     started. 

     What it certainly did not expect was that powerful Interior Minister
Sanan Kachornprasert would publicly declare that the
     hijackers were not terrorists but students fighting for freedom and
that the gang would be given a VIP ride to freedom still
     holding their weapons.