Officials fail to stem build-up alo

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The Nation (Thailand)

February 16, 2001, Friday

Officials fail to stem build-up along border

BY JEERAPORN CHAISRI,DON PATHAN

MAE SAI - Thai and Burmese military and border officials
meeting here over recent clashes made no progress in
stopping the build-up of troops along the northern border
area, a senior army officer said yesterday.

Chiang Rai provincial Commander Maj General Thawat
Charakalasa and Burma's Lt Col Aye Zaw co-chaired the
meeting of the Township Border Committee, a joint
mechanism created by both governments to tackle
border problems at the local level.   "We asked them
to examine the channels of communication and see
what went wrong and why it had to come to this point,"
Thawat told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

The two sides did not go into details about the sequence
of events, but used the occasion as an opportunity to
present their respective versions of the story.

In a gesture of bilateral cooperation, the meeting was
first held in Tachilek before being moved to Chiang Rai's
Mae Sai district. Thawat said any decision to pull troops
back and open the border would be made by higher
authorities. The 12-member Burmese delegation declined
to make any statement.

Supreme Commander Gen Samphao Choosri indicated that
the issue would be addressed at the upcoming 18th meeting
of the Regional Border Committee. It is Burma's turn to host
the next meeting of the committee, which has not met for two
years.

Thai and Burmese troops began exchanging gunfire and
shelling last Sunday after the Burmese refused to retreat
from Ku Teng Na Yong Hill near Ban Pang Noon, which they
had overtaken from a platoon of 19 Thai Rangers the day before.

The Burmese wanted the hill so they could position their artillery
to shell the Shan State Army (SSA), a rebel outfit fighting
Rangoon for independence, who were positioned nearby.

In yesterday's talks, Burma claimed the hill was in Burmese
territory, while Thailand insisted it should be neutral.

Meanwhile, an informed army source said Burma had demanded
that Thailand pay compensation for the stray shells that landed
in the Tachilek market on the Burmese side of the border, killing
three people and damaging property.

Burma also wanted Thailand to stop blocking its "suppression"
of drug trafficking activities along the Thai-Burmese border, to
stop supporting Burmese rebels, and stop encroaching into its
territory.

The Thai side demanded compensation for damages caused by
shells that landed in Mae Sai, where two civilians were killed
and nine injured, and at Mae Ai, where a Thai helicopter was
shot at by Burmese troops.

The weekend border flare-up was compounded by an escalating
war of words between the two armies and governments. Both
sides traded barbs and accusations over who started the incident.

Thailand accused Burma of using the United Wa State Army,
the largest drug producer in this region, to wage a proxy war with
Thailand. Bangkok also accused Rangoon of turning a blind eye
to the Wa's drug production along its border.

Rangoon hit back by accusing Thailand of giving moral and logistic
support to the Shan State Army and obstructing the Burmese
junta in its war on drugs. Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan got the
last word yesterday, describing Rangoon's allegation as "nonsense
and illogical".

During his final press conference as minister yesterday, Surin
said: "No one in the world would believe that Thailand is inhibiting
a campaign against drugs."

He said the Burmese excuse could be construed as a bid to
divert attention from the main issue, which he said was "a clear
violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity" by
the Burmese military that "no state in the world would tolerate".

A Burmese rebel group, the All Burma Students' Democratic
Front (ABSDF), called for Asean to look into the ongoing
Thai-Burmese problems.

ABSDF said the Burmese military junta had proven it could
be a major threat in destabilising the region by sending their
troops onto Thai soil.

Meanwhile, the overall situation remained tense with troops
and heavy artillery equipment from both sides holding their
ground along the border.

In an interview yesterday with reporters at his border camp
at Doi Kaw Wan near Ban Therd Thai, SSA commander
Col Yawd Serk said ten battalions of Burmese troops, including
about 800 troops from the UWSA, had been sent to the northern
border area.

The Wa army was brought into the border area to use as a buffer,
he said.

The purpose of this strategy was to minimise any direct
confrontation between the Thai and the Burmese military that
could escalate the conflict into an international issue, he said.

Yawd Serk said the Burmese had violated Thailand's territorial
integrity because the junta was angry about the Thailand's
stepped-up campaign against the drug traffickers.  "The Burmese
are not sincere. They should show gratitude to the Thais for
allowing them into the Asean family. Instead, they have become
a burden for the entire association."

SSA troops from Keng Tung have been engaged in fighting
with Burmese troops at Doi Kaw Wan since February 5.
Yawd Serk said there was no sign that hostilities would stop
any time soon.

Meanwhile, in a goodwill gesture yesterday afternoon, revered
Burmese monk Pra Kroo Ba Boonchum Yansangwaro led about
150 people to the Thai side of the Tachilek bridge to call for calm.
They were met by about 100 Mae Sai residents, who knelt to greet
the monk.