The Nation - Rangoon masses troops

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Subject: The Nation - Rangoon masses troops near border

The Nation - Oct 11, 1999.
Headlines
Rangoon masses troops near border

MAE HONG SON -- Burmese troops are pouring into border regions opposite
Thailand's northern Mae Hong Son province and may be preparing to attack
refugee camps, sources said yesterday.

Landmines are being planted along the numerous roads and trails leading to
Thai-Burmese border crossings, according to the sources.

Ethnic minority leaders and Thai intelligence sources said an attack might
be planned in retaliation for the seizure earlier this month of Burmese
embassy in Bangkok by pro-democracy gunmen.

On Oct 1 five-heavily armed Burmese dissidents stormed the embassy, holding
38 hostages at gunpoint and preventing 51 others from leaving the embassy
compound.

Twenty-five hours later Thai authorities made a deal with the Burmese group,
allowing them safe passage to the Thai-Burmese border.

Rangoon closed its 2,401-kilometre border with Thailand soon after the
incident.

A senior Thai intelligence source in Mae Hong Son estimated the number of
Burmese troops in the area had increased in recent days from some 10,000 to
between 20,000 and 30,000.

Karenni National Progressive Party deputy commander Major General Aung Myat
also said government troops had moved closer to the Thai border and may be
preparing raids.

The gunmen, who initially called for the Rangoon junta to hold talks with
the democratic opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, and demanded the released
of all political prisoners in Burma, were later provided with a helicopter
by Thai authorities to allow them to flee in the border area.

Burmese officials, while thanking Thailand for ending the hostage drama
peacefully, also accused Bangkok of being too soft on the gunmen and
pressured Thai authorities to get tough with exiled dissidents.

Burma said border camps harbour armed anti-government forces and on Saturday
called for Thailand to use an ''iron first'' to wipe out terrorism.

Meanwhile, a provincial official in Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district
down-played reports quoting rebel Karen officials claiming hundreds of
Burmese government troops had been mobilised to the area.

Suan Phung district chief Somdeee Khachayoungyuen said the movement was a
normal rotation of troops.

A Karen National Union officer (KNU), however, told The Nation that one of
his units had intercepted a radio message confirming that the government was
planning to attack an area opposite Suan Phung, where the five student
hostage takers were reported to have taken refuge.

The KNU's 4th Brigade headquarters was within a day's walk of the area where
the students had been released, he said.

The KNU was the last major ethnic rebel force still in open armed resistance
to the military junta ruling Burma and denied any previous knowledge or
involvement with the embassy siege.

The war of words between Bangkok and Rangoon continued yesterday with Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai down-playing on-going criticism of the handling of
the dissidents.

''Never mind. It's not really our concern as to when they are going to stop
their criticism,'' Chuan said when asked what measures the government would
take to stem the verbal barrage from Rangoon.

''Our job is do the best we can to convey our position. If we have already
done our best then that's good enough,'' he added.

Rangoon was infuriated by a statement made by Interior Minister Sanan
Kachornprasart who referred to the five armed men as ''students fighting for
democracy'' and that they were not ''international terrorists''.

Burma retaliated on radio, television and newspapers, attacking Thailand's
handling of the incident. Since the embassy siege Burma had closed its
border, was reported to be moving troops to border areas and had sealed off
its territorial waters to Thai vessels.

The Nation, Agence France-Presse