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South China Morning Post
Wednesday,
February 2, 2000
BURMA
New Karen
leader wants political solution to conflict
REUTERS in Walaykee The new leader of one of the world's oldest guerilla groups, the Karen
National Union (KNU), says he will use political means to settle its
long-running war with the military Government.
"The change of policy is that from now on we will focus on resolving the problem by political means," Ba Thein said at a safe house along the Thai-Burma border. "From the beginning we have always said this is a political problem and we should resolve it by political means . . . not use arms to settle it," he said. "Because by using arms to settle the problem we will never have a stable peace." Most senior KNU officials interviewed on Monday at a KNU jungle base inside Burma, however, said they expected a deal to be struck with Rangoon sooner rather than later. Burma has not responded yet to the KNU's change of tack. Ba Thein, 63, was speaking a week after he toppled KNU founder General Bo Mya, 73, as president of the rebel group. General Bo Mya, who steered the group on a militaristic path for 25 years, was made vice-president in charge of the KNU's military. He told a ceremony to mark the KNU's 51st anniversary that its military policy would change with the leadership change and it would reduce its role to one purely of self-defence. Since 1990, at least 16 ethnic minority rebel groups have entered into ceasefire agreements with the Government in Rangoon, leaving the KNU as the main group yet to reach a deal. Analysts see Ba Thein as a pragmatist who will be less of an obstacle than General Bo Mya in dealing with Rangoon. But the new leader said the KNU would not simply surrender to Rangoon and give up its cause. Most KNU central committee members have said they want changes in the rebel group's policy and are ready to take a softer stance towards Rangoon, which says the KNU must lay down its arms before negotiations can resume. "They [Burma] just want us to surrender but that won't work. In this country there are many ethnic nationalities. We want the establishment of a federal union where all ethnic nationalities can live in peace, equality and harmony," Ba Thein said. Armed KNU rebels have been fighting Rangoon's forces since 1949, a year after Burma won independence from Britain. The guerillas want greater autonomy for the eastern Karen state. Karens living on the Burmese side of the border and along the Thai border in refugee camps depend on the KNU for support. Insides China Today - Feb 2, 2000. Myanmar Pirate Sentenced To Death In China BEIJING, Feb 2, 2000 -- (Reuters) A court in southern China has sentenced a Myanmar pirate to death and jailed 13 for hijacking a Taiwan cargo ship last March, the China Daily said on Wednesday. The Intermediate People's Court in Fangchenggang in Guangxi province convicted Maung Htay Aung of masterminding the hijacking of the Marine Master in the Andaman Sea off Myanmar last March 17, the newspaper said. He had 10 days to appeal against the death sentence handed down on Monday. Two co-defendants were sentenced to life in prison, the newspaper said. Eleven received jail terms from five years upwards, it said, adding that they would be expelled after ending their sentences. Armed with guns and knives, the pirates boarded the vessel, on its way from China's eastern port of Zhangjiagang to Calcutta, at night, the newspaper said. They forced the 21 crew on to a life boat and steered the ship worth $1 million and its cargo of pure alkali worth 5.8 million yuan ($700,000) to Shantou in southern China to sell the loot, it said. The sailors were rescued by Thai fishermen 10 days later, presiding judge He Jiyong was quoted as saying. Chinese police recognised the vessel and arrested the pirates in Fangchenggang, where it was being repaired in April, the newspaper said. A court official said the vessel was registered in Panama. Last week, China executed an Indonesian and 12 Chinese pirates for hijacking a Hong Kong-owned vessel, clubbing 23 seamen to death and throwing their bodies overboard in the country's biggest piracy case in 50 years. AP Wednesday, February 2 3:33 PM SGT China Sentences 15 Myanmarese For Hijacking Taiwan ShipBEIJING (AP)--A Chinese court has sentenced 14 Myanmar pirates, one of them to death, for raiding a Taiwanese cargo ship and setting its 21 crew members adrift in the Andaman Sea, state media and a court official said Wednesday. The trial in the Intermediate People's Court in Fangchenggang was the second major conviction of pirates in recent weeks and underscored China's determination to cast off its reputation as a haven for the illegal trade. Last Friday, 13 pirates staggered drunkenly, some of them singing Ricky Martin's anthem for the 1998 World Cup, into trucks which took them to be executed. A court in Shanwei convicted the 12 Chinese and their Indonesian ringleader of raiding the Hong Kong freighter Chang Sheng and murdering all 23 crew members, in one of the bloodiest acts of sea piracy in 1998. The Nation Feb 2, 2000 Headlines Manhunt for 'Warriors' leader LEADER of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, Ye Thi Ha, alias San Naing, is now wanted as he is believed to have masterminded both the hostage situations at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok last year and at the Ratchaburi Hospital recently, a senior intelligence source said yesterday. Orders have been issued to security officials, both civilian and uniformed, to hunt for Ha, believed to be in the country after being freed from jail in 1992, the source said. "After investigating both cases, at the Burmese embassy and at the Ratchaburi Hospital, we believed that Ha is behind both incidents as he is a respected leader of the Vigorous Burmese Students Warriors," the source said. On Oct 6, 1989, Ha and another Burmese student, Ye Yint, hijacked a Burmese domestic flight from Mergui bound for Burma's capital of Rangoon. They forced the plane to land at U-Tapao Naval Air Base in Chon Buri province. After 11 hours of negotiation, the duo released all 82 passengers and four crew members on board the Fokker F-28 unharmed and surrendered to the authorities. The hijackers later admitted they had used a fake bomb. They were sentenced to six years in jail. Both were released on Aug 13, 1992, for good behaviour after spending three years in prison. The source said Ye Yint is now in the United States and Ha is believed to have remained in the Kingdom after his release. Ha is believed to have been behind the scenes when the Vigorous Burmese students Warriors raided the Burmese embassy in Bangkok on Oct 1. They took about 38 hostages including 13 Burmese diplomats. They were eventually released at the border in Ratchaburi province in exchange for the freedom of the hostages. The Burmese students then ganged up with God's Army whose stronghold is close to Ratchaburi province and stormed Ratchaburi Hospital last week. The siege ended bloodily with all 10 assailants killed and all hostages freed. San Naing, however, was not among them. "We have already informed our security officials to look for Ha everywhere. In case some officials are keeping him as a source, they are told to hand him over to the authorities," the same intelligence source said. Meanwhile, another security source said seven of the 10 Burmese assailants killed at Ratchaburi Hospital were soldiers of God's Army while the rest were Burmese students from Maneeloy Holding Centre who had taken part in the siege of the Burmese Embassy last year. The source said a Burmese student from the Maneeloy Holding Centre, Toe Toe, has identified five of the 10. BY MARISA CHIMPRABHA The Nation Headlines
Hostage-takers identifiedRATCHABURI - Police yesterday revealed the names of most of the 10 gunmen in the hospital siege a week after they were killed by Thai commandos in a pre-dawn raid to free hundreds of patients and medical staff held at gunpoint for about 23 hours. They were identified through information provided by relatives, witnesses and acquaintances, said Pol Maj Gen Chalermchart Sithanond, deputy commissioner of Police Region 7. The armed group was a mixture of ethnic Karens and Burmese dissidents, some of whom had resided at the Maneeloy Holding Centre before taking up arms against the Rangoon military government. The following are the identities of the dead gunmen as established by the police. * An ethnic Burmese whose name has yet to be identified. * A former teacher in Kamaplaw, God's Army's base camp. * Maung Kyaw, a half Burmese, half Karen. * Ko Kyi, a Burmese who used to live at the Maneeloy Holding Centre in Ratchaburi. * Char Pree, also known as Doe Kha-o. * Ko Kyaw, an ethnic Karen. * Pho Kyaw, elder brother of Ko Kyaw. * Beda or Preeda, a Burmese who used to live at Maneeloy. * Maung Htu, a Burmese who used to live at Maneeloy. * Nicki, or Mohammed, who used to live at Maneeloy.
Initially, the army had blamed a Karen National Union splinter group, known as the God's Army, for the incident. But from the list, it remains unclear how many are from the group. According to dissident sources, the takeover was a joint operation between the God's Army and the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, whose area had come under heavy shelling by Thai troops. Meanwhile, the commander of the First Army Region Lt Gen Thaweep Suwanasingha yesterday lashed out at a group of reporters, accusing them of being unpatriotic and selfish in their coverage of the crisis along the Thai-Burmese border. "All you people care about is selling news. You don't care about the interest of the nation," Thaweep said. The commander was visiting various road-blocks established in Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district amid heavy fighting along the Thai-Burmese border and a growing fear that more insurgents could enter Thailand to cause further trouble. Thaweep has been humiliated twice by an armed Burmese dissident group, reportedly the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, who penetrated the area under his control and made their way to Bangkok last October to overtake the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok. The second time was the recent hospital hostage crisis in Ratchaburi. The hostage-takers had demanded that Thaweep's First Army Region stop shelling the Karen villages in the area opposite Suan Phung. Thaweep insisted that he was merely preventing fighting between rebel soldiers and Burmese government troops from spilling over on to Thai soil, but dissident groups, as well as border relief workers, said the shelling by the Thai soldiers had devastated the Karen villagers. Thaweep also came under heavy criticism from the international community, including the United States and the United Nations, in 1997 after he forcibly repatriated thousands of Karen refugees amid an all-out offensive by the Burmese government troops against the Karen rebels. Meanwhile, a battalion of Burmese soldiers was reported to have been mobilised to attack base camps belonging to the All Burma Students Democratic Front and the now defunct Communist Party of Burma. The area is across from Prachuab Khiri Kahn's Hua Hin district, military sources said. The Nation Headlines
Bomb Hoax In RatchaburiPOLICE in Ratchaburi were called out yesterday evening to deal with a suspected bomb that turned out to be an alarm clock in a box. A plastic box tied with black tape and making a ticking sound was found around 6pm in a toilet at a court building in Ratchaburi's Muang district. Police moved the box to a school football field opposite the court and sealed surrounding roads to bar people from the area. The box was blown up, but found later to contain only an alarm clock. The hoax follows last week's drama at the provincial hospital, which was stormed by a group of Burmese rebels. The siege ended bloodily with 10 hostage-takers killed after a commando-style raid by police and troops. The Nation Bangkok Post -
Feb 2, 2000.
GOD'S
ARMY
Junta seizes jungle base
Wassana
Nanuam God's Army's jungle base at Kamaplaw has fallen
to Burmese troops after days of heavy shelling. A source with the Surasi task force said the base, opposite Ratchaburi, was
overrun on Sunday. After the death of 10 God's Army guerrillas who seized Ratchaburi regional
hospital, Rangoon sent 3,000 troops to attack Kamaplaw, driving rebels and
civilians into the jungle. Johnny and Luther Htoo, the 12-year-old twins who
lead the rebels, disappeared during the attack, said the source. It was believed
the boys were taken to a new shelter by Kyaw Ni, also known as Johnny, a student
exile who was involved in the Burmese embassy siege last October. According to the source, God's Army guerrillas had tried to flee to the Thai
border but were pushed back. Meanwhile, army engineers defused a time bomb found in the toilet at
Ratchaburi provincial court. Police said the device, wrapped with adhesive tape and linked to a clock, was
not powerful.
Five soldiers were injured and their dog was
killed when they stumbled on a landmine along the border in Ratchaburi's Suan
Phueng district on Monday. The mine was some 300m from the border near Khao Chong Krachoam, opposite the
overrun bastion of the God's Army rebels, said Col Somkuan Saengpataranet, the
army spokesman. Pvt Varin Kanedee suffered eye injuries; Pvt Kampee Taopin's right leg was
blown off; and Wo Sithipong Puengnoi, Sgt Chavalit Petchrat and Pvt Thinnakorn
Kradanrart suffered slight injuries from shrapnel. Their booby-search dog
died. They are hospitalised at Ratchaburi Regional Hospital and Suan Phueng
Hospital. Gen Rewat Boonthab, assistant army chief, has paid them a visit. The
army chief has ordered a border patrol routine review. |