THIALAND/BURMA

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Thai-Myanmar Border Now Volatile

By MICOOL BROOKE
 .c The Associated Press

  
THREE PAGODAS PASS, Thailand (AP) - With each passing day, the Three Pagodas
checkpoint on the Thai-Myanmar border seems more like a demilitarized zone
than a link between friendly countries. 

Stony-faced Myanmar officials peer through steel gates fastened by chains
and padlocks. Immigration officials turn away uninformed or intrepid
tourists with a wave of the hand. 

Three Pagodas Pass, 240 miles west of Bangkok, is one of a dozen official
checkpoints Myanmar's military government has closed since last week,
ostensibly to ensure security after armed pro-democracy militants took over
Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok. 

But Myanmar makes little effort to hide the actual reason: to show its
disapproval of how Thailand handled the affair. 

Student rebels who held dozens of hostages for a day were flown to the
border and allowed to go free. Senior Thai officials described them as
fighters for democracy rather than terrorists - actions that enraged
Myanmar, turning the border suddenly volatile. 

Normally, tens of thousands of dollars change hands every weekend as
thousands of tourists, villagers and traders make the low-key cross-border
trek. But now, the usual warm welcome for big spenders has been replaced by
a cold frown. 

``We understand that the pride of the Myanmar side is hurt, but to engage in
prolonged measures and rhetoric of antagonism towards Thailand will
accomplish nothing,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra told The
Associated Press on Tuesday. ``Cross-border trade benefits people on both
sides of the border, not just the Thai people.'' 

In Myanmar's capital, Yangon, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, head of the regime,
accused the pro-democracy movement headed by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi of supporting the embassy takeover. He said it was a ``nefarious''
campaign to seize power, official media reported Tuesday. 

The strategically important Three Pagodas Pass gets its name from the tiny
Buddhist shrines built in the 18th century to mark earlier invasions of
Thailand by Myanmar. It also was a station for the Japanese army's infamous
Death Railway in World War II. 

For the past few years, Myanmar's tourism authorities have been promoting
Three Pagodas Pass as a gateway for day trips. 

But even before the recent tensions, Myanmar's authoritarian rulers didn't
exactly roll out the red carpet - signposts near the army barracks on the
Myanmar side spell out a series of strict regulations, such as a ban on
video cameras. 

Now, Myanmar and Thai troops keep a wary eye on each other from guardposts
just 20 yards apart. 

Tensions are rising amid reports that Myanmar troops are massing at several
points to attack rebel groups among 100,000 refugees from Myanmar living in
camps along the Thai side. Myanmar denies that, but Thai generals are
inspecting the area daily. 

Thailand is not the intended target, but villagers along the frontier are at
risk and the nation has beefed up its own forces. The Thai army remained on
high alert early today, with officers saying Myanmar's troop deployment was
almost complete and they expected an incursion at any time. 

The war machine in Myanmar, also known as Burma, boasts 425,000 troops,
though only a small fraction would be deployed. Col. Somkuan
Sangpattaranetr, a Thai Defense Ministry spokesman, said Thailand is
prepared to look after displaced people if fighting breaks out. 

Thai villagers near the border, meanwhile, believe the reputed leader of the
group that captured the embassy has returned to the area. 

Noodle vendor Siriporn Bunyawong, 47, joked that she hoped the man known
only as ``Johnny'' would blow up the closed Three Pagodas Pass checkpoint so
trade and tourism could resume before she went out of business. 

``It's been like a ghost town,'' she said. ``My business is down by 60
percent, and I don't know how long I can keep operating like this.'' 

AP-NY-10-13-99 0643EDT