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BURMA RELATED NEWS - JUNE 07,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Dozens Killed in Myanmar Fighting Near
Thai Border
Reuters - Myanmar set for fresh assault on
rebels
AFP - Myanmar soldiers renew offensive on Thai
border
AP - Myanmar Frees Opposition Members
AP - Myanmar Mortars Force Thai Evacuation
AP - Shan rebels capture base, Thailand and
Myanmar beef up naval forces
BBC - Massive manhunt continues in
Thailand
AP - U.S. Vows to End Human Trafficking
Independent(Bangladesh) - 70 Myanmar troops killed in clashes with Shan
rebels
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Request to Attack Rebels
Through Thai Soil Rejected
Bkk Post - Burmese
forces `suffer heavily' in offensive against Shan
rebels
Bkk Post - No junta attack on Shan from Thai
soil
Bkk Post - Manhunt closing in on killers,
arrests expected
Bkk Post - EDITORIAL - Only openness can help
improve ties
The Nation - Prem shocked, Thaksin says
The Nation - Burma stance stirs strong debate
The Nation - Driver
'may have cheated rebels'
Kyodo News - Top court upholds life term for
Myanmar man in murder case
ST - Thaksin's gut-feel approach to Myanmar ties
upsets Thais
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Dozens Killed in Myanmar Fighting Near Thai Border Thu Jun 6, 6:35 AM ET By Chris Johnson BANGKOK (Reuters) - Intense
fighting in eastern Myanmar between government troops and ethnic guerrillas has
killed dozens and threatens to spill over into neighboring Thailand, military
sources said on Thursday.
The Myanmar army and its allies in the United Wa State Army have been
attacking positions held by a rival ethnic group, the Shan State Army (SSA),
opposite Thailand's Chiang Mai province, in a battle for territory and for
control of the drugs trade.
Thai officials said more than a dozen shells fired by one or both sides had
landed inside Thailand since Tuesday and many Shan army troops had retreated
across the border for medical treatment.
They said dozens of Myanmar and Wa fighters died in the assaults on Shan
positions. Myanmar had sought without success Thai permission to cross the
border to hit the Shan from behind.
"We are on full alert for any incursion into Thailand and we are
reinforcing positions along the border that may be at risk," Thai defense
ministry spokesman Surapan Poomkaew told Reuters.
An Shan source told Reuters his forces had killed about 150 Myanmar and Wa
soldiers and wounded many others in heavy fighting along the border since May
20. He declined to give an estimate for the Shan's casualties.
Myanmar officials were unavailable for immediate comment.
Tensions have flared between Thailand and Myanmar, with Myanmar accusing
Thailand of backing the Shan and another ethnic army, the Karen National Union
(KNU), a charge Bangkok denies.
Myanmar has sealed major border crossings and this week warned Thailand not
to get involved in its assault on the Shan.
Thailand's government has tried to defuse the mounting tension and has said
Myanmar troops are not a threat as they are fighting rebel groups and not
launching a strike into Thai soil.
"WE MUST NOT INTERFERE"
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said he did not think the situation
on the border was a serious problem for Thailand, saying Myanmar's action
against the Shan army was an internal affair.
"Myanmar has informed us about the crackdown and that it will try very hard
to prevent shells from landing inside Thailand," he told reporters. "We must not
interfere."
"We will do our best to restore the good relationship."
Tensions rose this week between the two historical enemies with newspapers
on both sides fanning the flames.
Emotions boiled in Thailand on Tuesday when masked gunmen, dressed like
rebels from the Karen National Union, opened fire with M-16s on a Thai school
bus near the Myanmar border, an attack which resulted in the death of three
school children.
Thai media speculated that Myanmar troops could have been behind the
attack,but Thaksin said he did not think Myanmar soldiers or Karen rebels were
to blame.
Thailand has said it wants high-level talks with Myanmar to calm tensions,
but so far has received no reply.
Thailand and Myanmar have been at odds in recent years over the flow of
illegal narcotics from factories inside Myanmar.
Thailand accuses the Wa army of being the biggest trafficker in the region
and says it is responsible for most of the millions of methamphetamine stimulant
pills that enter Thailand. Myanmar denies the charge and accuses the SSA of
being drugs runners.
Thai troops massed on the Myanmar border last month in what was billed as a
training exercise, but which military sources said was preparation for a strike
on Wei Hsueh-Kang, a notorious drug baron who commands a faction of the Wa army.
Thailand withdrew the troops after protests from Myanmar but Shan rebels
seized the chance to attack Myanmar troops and their Wa allies in the area,
capturing four army camps.
Myanmar says Thai soldiers helped the Shan assault. Thailand denies this
but says it returned fire across the border when stray artillery shells from
Myanmar landed on Thai soil.
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Swiss time 14:02, Friday 07.06.2002
Myanmar set for fresh assault on rebels By Andrew Marshall
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar has
sent reinforcements for a fresh assault on ethnic Shan rebels near the border
with Thailand after days of fierce fighting that has fuelled tension between
Yangon and Bangkok, military sources say.
Myanmar troops and their allies in the United Wa State Army, an ethnic army
widely blamed for producing much of the Golden Triangle's output of heroin and
methamphetamines, launched an offensive earlier this week to try to recapture
border outposts held by a rival ethnic militia, the Shan State Army.
Myanmar has accused Thailand of backing the Shan rebels -- a charge it
denies -- and has warned Bangkok it will face retaliation if Thai troops get
involved in the fighting.
The Thai army has promised restraint but says it will respond if stray
bullets or shells land in Thai territory.
Military sources say the Shan army has beaten back all the attacks so far.
Its soldiers are entrenched on hilltops on the frontier with Thailand, and
Bangkok has refused permission for Myanmar troops to use its soil to attack the
Shan from behind.
The Shan army says more than 300 Myanmar and Wa troops have been killed in
the fighting so far. Thai military sources said they estimated scores had been
killed on both sides.
Lieutenant-General Korn Juen, a Shan army commander, said the Myanmar army
had suffered heavy casualties and had sent 1,000 reinforcements. He said that
unless the Myanmar army crossed into Thai territory it would not manage to
dislodge the Shan.
DRUGS FUEL CONFLICT
Myanmar is a mosaic of rival ethnic groups. Most have signed peace deals
with the ruling junta but some ethnic guerrilla groups -- most notably the Shan
State Army and the Karen National Union -- are still fighting the military
government's rule.
The remote Golden Triangle region, where the Shan and Wa armies are based,
is the source of much of the heroin reaching the West and most of the
methamphetamine pills flooding Thailand.
Thailand says the Wa produce most of the drugs, but the Myanmar junta says
the Shan rebels are the main culprits.
Tensions between the two countries flared last month after Thailand moved
thousands of troops to its northern border.
The troops were ostensibly there for a training exercise, but military
sources said they were preparing for a strike on Wei Hsueh-Kang, a notorious
drug baron who commands a faction of the Wa army. Thailand withdrew the troops
after protests from Myanmar but relations between the two countries have hardly
improved.
The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been keen to
improve relations with Myanmar. The stance has been heavily criticised by Thai
newspapers which say the government has been too soft on Myanmar in the face of
aggression and insults.
Newspapers say there is also a serious rift between the Thai government and
military on how to deal with Myanmar. -----------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar soldiers renew offensive on Thai
border
(AFP) - Myanmar troops have
launched a fresh offensive with heavy shelling against ethnic Shan rebels along
the Thai-Myanmar border, rebel and Thai army sources said.
"Heavy long-range shelling from Myanmar and Wa troops has continued, but
they have missed their targets," a source from the Shan State Army (SSA) told
AFP by telephone from the scene of the fighting on Friday.
"We are still holding the seven bases that we seized earlier," he said,
adding that some 3,000 to 4,000 Myanmar and allied Wa troops had been involved
in the clashes with the SSA.
The SSA, an anti-Yangon ethnic militia, has been under heavy attack since
Myanmar troops began their offensive earlier this week to retake border bases
that Yangon said were overrun by the Shan last month.
The source said 17 or 18 SSA fighters had suffered injuries since the
offensive began, but declined to say what the death toll was.
SSA spokeswoman Nam Kher Hsem told AFP in Chiang Mai that shelling had
stopped late Thursday around 8:00 pm (1300 GMT) when rain began, but had started
again early Friday.
"But no casualties have been reported so far," she said.
A Thai military officer stationed at Mae Fah Luang district in Chiang Rai
province, opposite the fighting, confirmed that the fighting continued
Friday.
"Yesterday was the heaviest day so far, but today is like any other day (of
the offensive)," he said.
He said the fighting had been contained to the Myanmar side of the
border.
"We have had no contact with the SSA or Myanmar soldiers. The fighting is
going on inside Myanmar territory," he said.
No confirmation of the fighting was available from Myanmar's junta.
On Thursday a senior Thai army source said that up to 70 Myanmar troops
were killed and another 100 had been injured since the Myanmar offensive
began.
The source described it as the most intense fighting of the year along the
Thai-Myanmar border, and said the clashes had spilled into Thai territory.
Yangon Tuesday declared its intention to stage an all-out offensive against
the SSA, which it considers a terrorist group.
It warned Thailand not to interfere in its operations.
The SSA are one of the only major armed insurgent groups in Myanmar yet to
sign a ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta. They have been fighting for an
independent state for decades.
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Myanmar Frees Opposition Members
Wed Jun 5,10:22 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Myanmar's military junta released nine members of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi's party Wednesday, a government statement said.
The members of the National League for Democracy, or NLD, were released "in
good health and reunited with their respective families," it said.
The government has been regularly releasing NLD members since the two sides
began secret reconciliation talks in October 2000 to end the country's 12-year
political standoff.
Suu Kyi was freed from 19 months' house arrest on May 6. She said then that
the release of political prisoners ? estimated by human rights groups to number
about 1,500 ? was among her top priorities.
But the Nobel Peace Prize laureate said she and the NLD were "disappointed
with the slow rate of the release of political prisoners."
This is the second group of NLD members to be freed since Suu Kyi's
release. Some 281 political prisoners have been freed since the U.N.-brokered
reconciliation talks began in October 2000.
A Western-led embargo on most foreign aid was imposed after the military
crushed nationwide democracy demonstrations in 1988, killing thousands of
civilians. The regime later refused to honor the 1990 general election victory
by the National League for Democracy.
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Myanmar Mortars Force Thai
Evacuation
Thu Jun 6,12:37 PM ET By APICHART WEERAWONG, Associated Press Writer TERD THAI, Thailand (AP) - Thai
authorities evacuated about 1,000 villagers from areas along its northern border
with Myanmar on Thursday, as heavy fighting raged on the other side of the
frontier.
The latest skirmishes between Myanmar government troops and ethnic Shan
rebels began Monday. About 15 mortar shells fired from Myanmar landed on Thai
soil, but caused no casualties or damage.
Rebels belonging to Myanmar's Shan and Karen minorities have been fighting
for autonomy since Myanmar, also known as Burma, gained independence from
Britain in 1948. Myanmar claimed that Thai troops fired artillery in support of
Shan rebels, while Thailand said it fired only warning shots after fighting
spilled over onto its soil.
Some 1,000 Thais were evacuated from the village of Terd Thai, 470 miles
north of Bangkok, as machine-gun fire could be heard and smoke rose in the
jungle. Five hundred residents of nearby Mae Mor left Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the Shan rebels, Khur Seng, claimed Thursday that more
than 300 Myanmar troops had been killed in four days of fighting, and that many
of them were killed accidentally by their own artillery fire.
But Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Suraphan Pumkaew said that
Thai intelligence believed that just four soldiers had been killed in the
fighting this week. He said he did not know whether the dead were Myanmar
soldiers or Shan guerrillas.
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Shan rebels capture base, Thailand
and Myanmar beef up naval forces
Fri Jun 7, 1:03 AM ET By APICHART WEERAWONG, Associated Press Writer TERD THAI, Thailand (AP) -
Ethnic rebels battling troops in neighboring Myanmar overran an army base amid a
barrage of mortar fire Friday, as heavy fighting near Thailand's northern border
entered a third day, Thai military officials said.
The skirmishes between Myanmar government troops and Shan rebels have
forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 Thai villagers along the frontier and
have increased tensions between Thailand and Myanmar.
Both sides have bolstered troops along the border and beefed up their naval
forces.
Thailand's armed forces chief, Adm. Narong Yuthawong, warned Thai fisherman
to stay away from Myanmar's territorial waters in the Andaman Sea because
Myanmar had sent warships to the area.
He said the Thai navy had also dispatched additional patrol boats and
personnel to the waters to provide security for the fishermen.
"This is not a confrontation but both sides have increased their naval
deployment to safeguard their own territory," Narong said.
Deputy Defense Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa, who returned from inspecting
the troubled border, told reporters in Bangkok that Shan State Army rebels late
Thursday had recaptured the Sikhiew base from government forces who had overrun
it earlier.
Rebels belonging to Myanmar's Shan and Karen minorities have been fighting
for autonomy since Myanmar, also known as Burma, gained independence from
Britain in 1948. The fighting has frequently spilled over the border and sparked
confrontations between Myanmar and Thailand.
A Shan official at the border, about 750 kilometers (470 miles) north of
Bangkok, said the Sikhiew camp was recaptured after some 20 Myanmar defenders
deserted the base under heavy mortar fire.
Adisorn Montachai, a Thai district chief near the area of conflict, said
fighting had resumed Friday morning and several mortar shells had landed on Thai
soil. No damage or casualties were reported.
The Shan rebels claim Myanmar government troops have suffered heavy
casualties in the past four days, but Lt. Gen. Udomchai Ongksingha, the Thai
commander in the region, told reporters he doubted more than five combatants on
each side had been killed.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has advocated using armed force only
as a last resort in the current border tensions with Myanmar, putting him at
odds with senior Thai military officers.
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BBC - Thursday, 6 June, 2002, 01:53
GMT 02:53 UK
Massive manhunt continues in Thailand Thailand is continuing a massive manhunt along the border with Burma
following a gun attack on a school bus that killed three teenagers.
Two children died at the scene on Tuesday morning, and a third died in
hospital on Wednesday having suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
In addition to those killed, another 14 children were wounded, and some
remain seriously ill in hospital.
The shooting by three unidentified gunmen took place in Ratchaburi province
about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Burma border.
"I have instructed authorities to get them dead or alive, as authorities
have asked for three days to arrest the gunmen," Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra said.
"I assure you that people on Thai soil and doing bad things to the country
cannot live here. We will act decisively".
The border has been closed for the last week due to a series of clashes
between Thai and Burmese troops, which started when skirmishes between Burma's
military and armed rebels spilled over the border.
The BBC's Jonathan Head says there was no obvious motive for the bus
attack.
The Burmese government has denied involvement in the shooting as has the
main ethnic Karen militia group, the Karen National Union (KNU).
Mystery attackers
The attackers wore masks and jungle fatigues, similar to those worn by
ethnic minority fighters.
However there are many different armed ethnic groups fighting in the
region, including the Rangoon-allied United Wa State Army, which Thailand and
the US accuse of drug-trafficking.
Mr Thaksin has said the evidence seemed to point to armed militias but said
the KNU was unlikely to be involved because 80% of Thai children living in the
area where the attack happened are Karen by descent.
On Wednesday more than 300 Thai police and soldiers backed by helicopters
were combing a 100 square kilometre (39 sq mile) section of the border for the
gunmen, a police spokesman said.
Thai Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon said he believed the assailants
were still on Thai territory.
Three people, who were arrested on Tuesday, were released after they were
confirmed to be government employees.
Meanwhile, about 500 Thai villagers living near the border were forced to
flee their homes and move to a safer area inside the country after fighting
erupted between the government forces and rebels in Burma.
'Slaughter'
Lieutenant Komdej Ruangsiri said footprints near the scene suggested the
three attackers were backed by up to seven people.
Deputy government spokesman Kuthep Saikrachang said the Thai Government
would retaliate against those behind the attack once they were identified.
Some of the wounded remain seriously ill in hospital.
Thai newspapers have reacted with horror to the shooting and called on
Thailand and Burma to urgently settle their differences.
The Bangkok Post called the attack a "slaughter of the innocents" while the
Nation said it was "one of the most heinous terrorist acts to have taken place
on Thai soil in recent memory".
Ratchaburi province was the scene of a two-day hospital stand-off in
January 2000 between Thai forces and rebels, in which all 10 rebels died.
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U.S. Vows to End Human Trafficking
By Harry Dunphy Associated Press Writer Wednesday, June 5, 2002; 4:26 PM WASHINGTON ?? The government is committed to ending worldwide trafficking
in humans, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday, calling the practice
"an appalling assault on the dignity of men, women and children."
At least 700,000 and possibly as many as four million people are bought,
sold, transported and held against their will through fraud, coercion and
outright kidnapping, Powell said.
He said trafficking leaves no land untouched, including the United
States.
"Approximately 50,000 people are trafficked into the United States every
year," Powell said. "Here and abroad, the victims of trafficking toil under
inhuman conditions in brothels, sweatshops, fields and even in private
homes."
Most of the victims are women and children, he said.
Presenting the State Department's second annual Trafficking in Persons
Report, Powell said that starting next year, the United States will penalize
countries that make no effort to halt the practice.
Nancy Ely-Raphel, an adviser to Powell, said penalties could include votes
against loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Since the last report, she said, South Korea, Romania and Israel have
significantly strengthened anti-trafficking efforts.
Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who sponsored legislation in the House that
required the department's report, said he was pleased to see more than a dozen
countries move up to get a passing grade.
"But much more needs to be done," Smith said. "The sheer number of people
trafficked each year is ample evidence that modern day slavery is still a
massive humanitarian crisis that we must stop."
Smith was critical of the report for leaving India, Thailand and Vietnam
off the list of countries with the poorest records. All three, he said, "have
serious trafficking problems in which government officials appear to be actively
involved."
Mariam Bell of the Wilberforce Forum, an anti-slavery advocacy group, said
failing to list these three nations was an insult to women and children because
they are "some of the world's worst offenders."
The report, which examined 89 countries, found that 19 are not doing enough
to prevent the forced transport of humans across international borders, compared
with 23 a year ago.
Five of the noncomplying countries are in the Persian Gulf region: Bahrain,
Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The 14 others are: Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia, Cambodia, Greece,
Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Russia, Sudan, Tajikistan and
Turkey.
An additional 52 countries did not meet the minimum standards but made
"significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance."
Those countries are Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria,
Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Hungary, India, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Latvia,
Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines,
Romania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam and Yugoslavia.
Described as complying fully with the standards are: Austria, Belgium,
Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Lithuania,
Macedonia, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland
and Britain.
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Independent-bangladesh
70 Myanmar troops killed in clashes with
Shan rebels
CHIANG MAI (Thailand), June 6: Up to 70 Myanmar troops were killed and
another 100 injured during a heavy offensive against ethnic Shan rebels, a
senior Thai army source said Thursday, reports AFP.
At least 3,000 Myanmar troops and their allies in the United Wa State Army
clashed with Shan ethnic insurgents this week in what the source described as
the most intense fighting of the year along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Speaking by telephone from the border area in Chiang Mai province, the
source said heavy shelling from the clashes spilled into Thailand on
Thursday.
The source said the Shan State Army (SSA), an anti-Yangon ethnic militia,
has been under heavy attack since Myanmar troops began their offensive to retake
border bases which Yangon said were overrun by the Shan last month.
"About 100 Myanmar troops were believed injured and it is likely that
50--70 have been killed, while the number of SSA injuries average about 20 per
day," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
An SSA official said Myanmar's casualty figures were far higher.
"We estimate since Monday night there have been about 300 casualties on the
Burmese side," the SSA's Nam Kher Hsem told the agency in Chiang Mai.
She did not distinguish between killed and wounded in her figures. A second
SSA source told the agency he believed 100 troops had been injured.
"As far as we know about 100 Myanmar soldiers were wounded, but nobody
knows exactly how many soldiers were killed," the SSA source said.
Clashes were heaviest in three mountainous areas of Pang Kam Kaw, Doi Tai
Laeng, and Kaw Hom opposite Chiang Mai province, Nam Kher Hsem said.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra acknowledged Thursday that Myanmar
had informed Thailand in advance of the offensive.
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Myanmar's Request to Attack Rebels
Through Thai Soil Rejected
Xinhuanet 2002-06-07 11:17:02 BANGKOK, June 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Thai government rejected a request from Myanmar for its troops to use Thai soil while staging attacks against strongholds of the Shan State Army (SSA), the Bangkok Post reported Friday. Yuthasak Sasiprapa, Thai deputy defense minister, was quoted as saying that
Myanmar had asked if its troops could move through Thai territory to attack the
SSA, who have vantage points in mountainous areas, but Thailand rejected the
request citing sovereignty rights.
The deputy minister also played down the rising tensions, saying diplomatic
channels with Rangoon were still open.
Myanmar wants only to establish order on the border, so their initial
target is the SSA, then they will focus on other rebel groups, he said.
Meanwhile, according to the report, Thai navy moved warships Thursday to
the Andaman Sea to contain Myanmar's vessels in disputed waters near Ranong
province, 580 kilometers south of Bangkok.
Prasert Boonsong, navy commander-in-chief, confirmed that ships were being
sent to support vessels from the Third Fleet and Phangnga naval base in
controlling Myanmar ships near Ranong.
He described the Myanmar navy's deployment of larger warships to the
disputed area, five nautical miles by 10 nautical miles, as "unusual".
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Burmese forces `suffer heavily' in
offensive against Shan rebels
AFP, Bangkok Post
Friday 07 June 2002
Up to 70 Burmese troops were killed and another 100 injured during a heavy
offensive against ethnic Shan rebels, a senior Thai army source said
yesterday.
At least 3,000 Burmese troops and their allies in the United Wa State Army
clashed with Shan ethnic insurgents this week in what the source described as
the most intense fighting of the year along the Thai-Burmese border.
Speaking by telephone from the border area in Chiang Mai province, the
source said heavy shelling from the clashes spilled into Thailand
yesterday.
The source said the Shan State Army (SSA) has been under heavy attack since
Burmese government troops began their offensive to recapture border bases
overrun by the Shan last month.
``About 100 Burmese troops were believed injured and it is likely that
50-70 have been killed, while the number of SSA injuries average about 20 per
day,'' the source said.
An SSA official said the casualty figures on the Burmese side were far
higher.
``We estimate since Monday night there have been about 300 casualties on
the Burmese side,'' Nam Kher Hsem said in Chiang Mai.
She did not distinguish between killed and wounded in her figures.
A second SSA source said he believed 100 Burmese troops had been
injured.
``As far as we know about 100 Burmese soldiers were wounded, but nobody
knows exactly how many soldiers were killed,'' he said.
Clashes were heaviest in three mountainous areas of Pang Kam Kaw, Doi Tai
Laeng, and Kaw Hom opposite Chiang Mai, Nam Kher Hsem said.
``There have been heavy clashes between Shan and Burmese troops over the
past two days,'' a villager in Mae Hong Son said, adding that shells were
falling near the border ``every five to 10 minutes'' yesterday.
Rangoon on Tuesday declared its intention to stage an all-out offensive
against the SSA, which it deems a terrorist group.
The SSA is one of a few major armed insurgent groups in Burma yet to sign a
ceasefire agreement with the ruling junta. The Shan have been fighting for an
independent state for decades.
The offensive came after the Thai-Burmese relations deteriorated rapidly
following last month's clashes along the border which Rangoon has said left sev
eral dozen soldiers and ethnic rebels dead. Rangoon quickly sealed off its
border, cancelled official visits to the country, and embarked on a vitriolic
anti-Thai campaign in its state press.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday acknowledged that Burma had
informed Thailand in advance of its offensive.
Rangoon also warned Thailand not to interfere in its operations against the
Shan, which junta spokesman Col San Pwint said was being launched in order ``to
recover our losses and to restore security in the region.'' Five people were
killed on Wednesday when a longtail boat transporting labourers from Kawthaung
in Burma to Ranong came under machinegun fire from the Burmese military, a
source from the anti-Rangoon Parliamentary Democracy Party said.
The boat driver and four labourers were killed in the attack, near Nwagyi
island. The gunmen dumped their bodies in the Pachan river with orders that they
must not be retrieved. Since Burma closed its entire border with Thailand on May
22, a total of 200 people had been imprisoned in Burma, the source said.
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Bangkok Post - Friday 07 June 2002
No junta attack on Shan from Thai
soil
Navy sends warships to the Andaman sea
Wassana Nanuam and Supamart Kasem
The government has rejected a request from Rangoon for its troops to use
Thai soil while staging attacks against strongholds of the Shan State
Army.
Meanwhile, the navy moved warships yesterday to the Andaman Sea to contain
Burmese vessels in disputed waters near Ranong province.
``Burma asked if its troops could move through Thai territory to attack the
SSA, who have vantage points in mountainous areas,'' said Gen Yuthasak
Sasiprapa, deputy defence minister.
``We rejected the request citing sovereignty rights,'' he said.
Gen Yuthasak played down the rising tensions, saying diplomatic channels
with Rangoon were still open.
``Burma wants only to establish order on the border,'' he said. ``Their
initial target is the SSA, then they will focus on other rebel groups.''
Adm Prasert Boonsong, navy commander-in-chief, said ships were being sent
from the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea to support vessels from the Third
Fleet and Phangnga naval base in containing Burmese ships near Ranong.
``The reinforcements are needed because the resources of Phangnga naval
base may prove to be insufficient,'' Adm Prasert said.
He described the Burmese navy's deployment of larger warships to the
disputed area, five nautical miles by 10 nautical miles, as ``unusual''.
The Burmese navy has stationed three Chinese-made corvettes equipped with
C-801 guided missiles, five other armed vessels and three patrol ships in the
area.
``If fishing boats enter the area, they will certainly draw fire from the
Burmese ships,'' Adm Prasert said. ``We are on full alert.''
The Third Fleet's current presence in the area comprised 11 warships _ one
frigate, one anti-submarine vessel, seven patrol ships and two personnel
carriers _ and two reconnaissance aircraft, which had been ordered to make
regular sorties.
Gen Yuthasak also revealed 64 illegal logging operations, run in
conjunction with the pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, had been
uncovered in border areas of Tha Song Yang, Mae Ramat, Mae Sot, and Phop Phra
districts.
Logs cut on the Thai side of the border were sent to Burma and processed
into timber, before being shipped back to be made into furniture, he said.
At least 8,000 teak trees were found to have been felled.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Friday 07 June 2002
Manhunt closing in on killers,
arrests expected
20 armed bandits seen in deep forest
Sunan Ochakachorn and
Wassana Nanuam i
Police say they have found traces of the fugitive gunmen who attacked a
school bus in Ratchaburi on Tuesday, killing three children.
The manhunt has been narrowed down and arrests are expected in a couple of
days.
Police are looking for three men, though they say the number involved could
be higher.
The search zone has been concentrated on a border area where about 20
heavily-armed men were spotted. Evidence of cooking fires has also been found in
deep forest.
Joint military and police search teams have been combing an area from Ban
Huay Nam Sai's Jamook hill to Huay Pachi wildlife reserve, Phu Rakam pass and
Huay Bua Thong.
If the suspects are not found by this evening, searchers will rethink their
approach.
Deputy Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa said police found evidence of
cooking and 10 bamboo water containers 8-10km from the scene of the
atrocity.
The military was keeping an eye on anti-Rangoon Karen National Union
insurgents and a young Karen group at work in the area. The Karen were seen with
M16 assault rifles.
The Surasi task force's manhunt teams were using helicopters and sniffer
dogs to look for two suspects who cut down bamboo to make water
containers.
National police chief Pol Gen Sant Sarutanont said he did not believe
reports the prime minister had set a three-day deadline for arrests, as the
search was in rugged terrain and not that easy.
Yesterday, eight student survivors, school bus driver Thongmon Khemthong,
several monks and villagers were questioned by 20 investigators, psychologists
and the provincial prosecutor.
A police source said monks from Wat Chedi Hoi, near the scene of the
killing, had fled during the shooting and had only just returned.
Police believed the attackers might have used an escape route behind the
temple leading to a Mon village and Krachang border crossing, the police source
said.
Another theory was that the shooting was connected to business conflicts
involving the school bus driver's karaoke bar. The driver rejected that idea,
saying someone was distorting information to find a scapegoat.
Kobkiat Thaoprayoon, Ratchaburi's public prosecutor, said three men in
military-like uniforms and red scarves speaking poor Thai had tried to stop the
school bus.
Psychologists had helped police question the children, who were still
scared and confused.
An army source said that pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
guerrillas used red scarves as described by the witnesses.
In Ban Kha sub-district, 200 local people rallied yesterday to demand swift
action, while Ratchaburi governor Komet Daengthongdee urged villagers to come
forward with anything they knew, and refrain from talking to strangers and
non-Thais.
The governor believed local conflicts of interest or foreign troops wanting
to create chaos were to blame.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra inspected the scene of attack
and visited the injured students at Ratchaburi hospital.
He promised quick action against the assailants and gave money to the
victims' families.
The condition of three of the injured children, Pailin Khlamcharoen,
Wanwisa Preefak and Sathit Jaiman, has improved and they have been taken off
respirators.
Vijitra Jai-on, 13, another victim, had a second operation on her spine
yesterday.
The senseless tragedy has left many students scared, and bereaved families
depressed and angry. -----------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Friday 07 June 2002
EDITORIAL - Only openness can help
improve ties
Whenever he has difficulty explaining his actions, Thaksin Shinawatra
simply asks for the people's trust. The suggestion is always that he is privy to
privileged information. And so it is with Burma. Reporters are told he has good
reason for not responding strongly to the tirades from Rangoon. The people of
Thailand and their ancestors have been insulted, but Mr Thaksin insists they
must exercise restraint, although he doesn't explain why.
He all but lambasted Thai forces along the border and ordered them not to
``overreact'' to artillery fire straying across the border from Burma. It was
the response to this fire, after warning shots were ignored, that sparked off
the latest row with Burma after Rangoon launched a verbal assault on Thailand.
Mr Thaksin has implied that there is more to this than meets the eye. That may
well be so. Every national leader has secrets they cannot reveal to the public.
The problem here though is that Mr Thaksin is keeping everyone in the
dark.
Secret talks he held with Burmese leaders have just caused more confusion
among those dealing with Thai-Burmese relations. He and Gen Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh, his trusted and equally secretive defence minister, have hijacked
foreign affairs from those whose job it is to deal with Burma on a day to day
basis. After Gen Chavalit ordered an abrupt halt to the Surasi 143 military
exercises, designed to test the battle readiness of border forces, and told
troops not to use live rounds in response to stray shells, even if warning shots
fail to stop them, soldiers can no longer be sure of their rules of engagement.
Foreign Ministry staff find themselves marginalised as Rangoon will deal only
with Mr Thaksin or Gen Chavalit. Surakiart Sathirathai, the foreign minister,
has no clout whatsoever with Burma, or with the international community for that
matter. He is perceived as little more than the prime minister's errand
boy.
Personal diplomacy has its uses but it cannot replace normal channels of
communication. It is fine to use personal contacts to thaw an icy relationship.
But after negotiations between national leaders are concluded, foreign affairs
and security officials must be briefed. This is not happening under Mr Thaksin
and Gen Chavalit. No one knows what agreements were made by Mr Thaksin and Gen
Muang Aye, the Burmese army chief, during his visit here in March. This led to
reports that the Thai army had been granted approval to go after Wa drug
traffickers and then suspicions, once problems developed, that the prime
minister was putting the business interests of his family in Burma before those
of the nation.
Whatever the case, M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, the immediate past deputy
foreign minister, is right when he says you cannot keep appeasing a military
dictatorship. They understand only strength. Burma uses a strategy of divide and
rule, something learned from the British, to drive a wedge between the Thai
military and the Thaksin administration. It must not be allowed to
succeed.
Mr Thaksin and Gen Chavalit have achieved all they are ever going to with
personal diplomacy. They should now hand back foreign and security affairs to
the professionals, and stand by them. Thailand should be resolute in the face of
assaults on the integrity of her people and the nation. This does not mean we
should not seek a peaceful and constructive relationship with Burma. This can be
done by seeking a more active role, as Malaysia has done, in bringing together
the ruling generals and the democratic opposition. It will be democracy in Burma
_ not personal diplomacy on the part of Mr Thaksin or Gen Chavalit _ that
resolves the domestic conflicts in Burma that are the root of the often testy
relationship with Thailand. -----------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
REPORT ON BORDER RIFT: Prem
shocked, Thaksin says
Published on Jun 7, 2002
PM denies newspaper claim that he was reprimanded by ex-premier for being
soft on Burma, offending Army
Prime Minister Thak-sin Shinawatra yesterday strongly denied a news report
that privy councillor Prem Tinsu-lanonda had criticised his treatment of the
military in regard to the simmering border tensions with Burma.
Thaksin called on Prem, former Army chief and prime minister, at his Si Sao
Theves residence on Wednesday evening.
The Bangkok Post, quoting sources, reported that at the meeting Prem had
reprimanded Thaksin for being too quick to appease Burma and for offending
soldiers by saying they should not "overreact".
Thaksin yesterday confirmed he had sought a meeting with Prem, but denied
the Post's report that he had wanted to clear the air after learning of Prem's
dissatisfaction with his handling of the Burma issue.
"I wanted to meet him and he didn't ask to meet me," said Thaksin.
"We discussed several issues, including poverty and agriculture. Of course,
we talked about the border problem, but it was nothing like was reported by the
Bangkok Post. It seems like the 'sources' were using the reporter, which is not
an appropriate thing to do."
The sources were quoted as saying that Thaksin had emerged from the
one-hour meeting looking "far less than cheerful".
They said Prem had told the PM that soldiers protecting Thai sovereignty
had been hurt by his remarks, especially when he accused them of
overreacting.
Prem is a highly respected elder statesman who has rarely expressed public
views on national affairs.
Thaksin said Prem was "shocked" by the Post report when he saw it yesterday
morning.
"He understands the problem with Burma well and I told him in detail what
had been going on. He understands the situation, but I can't tell you everything
he said. This morning he was shocked by the [Post] report," the prime minister
said.
Relations between Thailand and Burma have deteriorated dramatically in the
past fortnight following clashes along the border that have reportedly left
dozens of Burmese troops and ethnic insurgents dead.
Thaksin ordered Thai troops near the border to pull back "to decrease
tension and avoid confrontation" after a shelling incident on May 20 that sent
relations with Burma's military-run government into a tailspin.
Burma accused the Thai Army of firing artillery across the border to
support ethnic-minority rebels fighting the government. Rangoon responded by
closing border checkpoints with Thailand and withholding visas for Thai
officials.
Burma's state media has also accused the Thai authorities of plotting to
destabilise the country.
Thaksin has come under fire from his political opponents and the media for
being too conciliatory toward Burma. He has warned the army against
"overreacting" to border skirmishes and has advised patience.
Associated Press said yesterday that a senior military official with
knowledge of the Prem-Thaksin meeting confirmed the Post report.
The military official told Associated Press on condition of anonymity that
troops along the border felt "disgraced" because they could only stand by and
evacuate villagers while forces from Burma were poised to cross into
Thailand.
The source added that Prem had reacted strongly to recent statements from
Maj-General Kyaw Win, Burma's deputy military-intelligence chief, who accused
Thailand of harbouring anti-Rangoon elements and branded the Thai leadership
"bare-faced liars" for denying this claim.
The source said Prem deplored the diplomatic aggression and one-sided
accusations, and the fact no government representative had come out to rebut
Rangoon's statements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Burma stance stirs strong debate
Supalak Ganjanakhundee, Don Pathan
Published on Jun 7, 2002
The rift between the government and the military is getting wider by the
day and has no end in sight. The two groups seem unable to come up with a common
solution on how the country should deal with Burma.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's brand of "personal diplomacy" - that
pushes reconciliation with Burma to the point it may jeopardise national
security - should not come at the expense of national interest, many critics
say.
Thailand's lack of understanding of Burma's domestic politics has hampered
Thai efforts in dealing with the military government, participants at a seminar
yesterday argued, pointing to the rivalry between Burma' s Army commander
General Muang Aye and the country's security chief Lt-General Khin Nyunt.
At the start of a high-profile visit in April, a red-carpet welcome at
Government House for Muang Aye - as if he were head of the government -
indicated Thailand gave favour to Burma's No-2 leader, said Burmese affairs
expert Sunait Chutintranond.
His "rival" Khin Nyunt received no similar treatment when he was in
Thailand as a guest of Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh in September
last year.
"It is true they [Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt] are competing but they will
never separate. Only unity among generals can save the regime as it is now
facing new political circumstances, including freeing the opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi," Sunait said.
Burma's internal politics are very complex. The clumsy diplomatic move will
damage Thai national interest in the long run, he said.
Critics said the premier had been unable to make Rangoon accountable for
the illicit activities of some groups it had signed cease-fire agreements with -
namely the United Wa State Army, a 20,000-strong outfit that authorities blame
for flooding Thailand with methamphetamines.
Thaksin's supporters, on the other hand, were yesterday quick to defend
"personal diplomacy", pointing to tangible progress the current administration
has made over the past year. The approach is still needed, said retired general
Sanan Kachornklam, also a close aide to Defence Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh.
"Normal diplomatic channels never work since Burmese ruling style is also
based on personal charisma," Sanan said. He added that Gen Maung Aye was the
right person to talk with because he controls all uniformed armed forces and is
in charge of internal affairs.
Personal contact has achieved deals of mutual interest, he said, including
joint fisheries, tourism and infrastructure development, as well as
counter-narcotics moves in the form of crop substitution.
But all of this so-called progress nose-dived to a low ebb when flare-ups
erupted along the border.
For the past two weeks, Thai and Burmese soldiers and sailors have squared
off along their land and water borders as armed ethnic rebel armies have made
the best of the situation by playing each country off against the other.
Pressure is on for the premier to do something, but he appears to be at a
loss on what to do following vicious accusations from Rangoon over Thailand's
role in the proxy war on the border. Rangoon has accused the Thai Army of going
too far and is demanding that Bangkok, which extended an olive branch to
Rangoon, live up to its promises.
Thaksin, meanwhile, looks lonelier by the day and frustrations appear to be
getting the best of the PM, who has been the butt of strong public criticism for
his handling of the situation.
Thaksin's statement accusing the Army of "over-reacting" was quite
damaging. But Chavalit wasn't too far behind with his call for the Army to
respond with smoke signals instead of live rounds in the event of stray shells
landing on the Thai side of the border.
For the time being, Thaksin looks stuck. The premier with the "can-do"
attitude and philosophy has been somewhat silent, tasting the bitter pill of
border politics.
Perhaps he's slowly coming to see that Thai-Burmese relations, and border
politics, are not a walk in the park.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Driver 'may have cheated rebels'
Published on Jun 7, 2002
Police are now focusing their investigation of Tuesday's attack on a school
bus on a possible business conflict between the bus driver and a Burmese ethnic
rebel group, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday.
Thaksin ruled out suggestions the incident was linked to recent border
skirmishes with Burma.
He was speaking after visiting the families of three students shot dead in
the incident, and three others still recovering at the Ratchaburi Centre
Hospital, after three unknown gunmen raked the makeshift school bus with
automatic weapons.
Deputy Defence Minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa said police believe that
the gunmen are still in the country after border patrol officers found a
campsite where they suspect the gunmen cooked food about ten kilometres from the
scene of the attack.
Police sealed the border to prevent the gunmen from escaping to Burma,
Yuthasak said. They could not yet say whether an ethnic minority group was
responsible for the attack.
First Army Region Chief Lt-General Pornchai Dechatiwong na Ayuthaya said
intelligence officers had uncovered information that bus driver Thongmon
Kemthong had fallen out with Karen National Union (KNU) rebels who hired him to
buy supplies. Informants said Thongmon had cheated the KNU.
Pornchai said this could be the motive behind the attack.
PM's Office Minister General Thammarak Isarangura na Ayutha said police did
not connect the attack with ethnic rebel fighting because the area is which it
occurred is normally peaceful. But Pornchai admitted that the gunmen were not
civilians as they were familiar with assault weapons.
Thongmon said he did not have a personal conflict with any group. He
operates a shop selling goods to Burmese students and locals, and he also hires
out karaoke equipment with three Karen women. He said he has never had any
business disputes and believed the gunmen, who's faces were masked, were not
Thai.
He also ruled out the possibility that bus drivers he was in competition
with might be responsible for the attack.
Local police yesterday asked students who survived the shooting to describe
the gunmen.
Amnat Srichai, 14, said he did not think the gunmen were Thai because they
could not speak Thai properly. He said he could not see the attackers' faces
because they were covered. Before shots were fired he heard one of the men shout
"stop", and then the shooting started.
Villagers are trying to return to normal life in Ban Kha, but they lock
their doors at 9pm. Locals say they feel safer since police threw a security
cordon around them. Armed officers now guard schools buses.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Top court upholds life term for Myanmar
man in murder case
TOKYO, June 7 Kyodo - The
Supreme Court has upheld a life sentence given to a man for killing a woman and
setting fire to her house in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, in April 1997, court
officials said Friday.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Straits Times - JUNE 7, 2002
FRI
Thaksin's gut-feel approach to
Myanmar ties upsets Thais
By Edward Tang THAILAND CORRESPONDENT BANGKOK - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's reliance on his gut feel to
manage Thailand's prickly relations with Myanmar has alienated senior officials
and riled the public which believes he is being unduly conciliatory.
His handling of the latest border row with Myanmar has also, reportedly,
earned him stern advice from Privy Councillor Prem Tinsulanonda.
Mr Thaksin, however, denied he had been rapped on the knuckles by the
widely respected former premier and army chief, who is now a senior adviser to
the Thai King.
While the critics acknowledged Mr Thaksin's sharp business instincts, they
believe his management style is more suited to the boardroom than to foreign
diplomacy.
They said his eagerness to engage Myanmar, which at times had required him
to be compromising, had been perceived as weakness by the Yangon
government.
The CEO style - a term used often by the Thai leader, a former chief
executive officer, to justify using unorthodox methods to solve problems - had
alienated senior officials.
His strategy to rely on his and senior Thai leaders' personal ties with
Myanmar leaders to bridge centuries-old animosities had left officials out of
the loop.
His result-oriented government was also criticised for cutting corners and
discarding institutionalised channels.
While some of these criticisms might seem unfair, it appeared that there
was growing public resentment towards the approach.
The problem with Mr Thaksin, said The Nation, was that he believed he could
solve problems using a 'personalised style of diplomacy'.
'Lest we forget, Thai-Myanmar relations are highly complex and no single
authority can resolve the longstanding issues relating to border security and
ethnic groups,' it said.
The same newspaper yesterday quoted a source as saying that the Thai leader
was chided by General Prem for calling on the military not to 'overreact' to
recent border incursions by Myanmar.
The remark was made apparently by Mr Thaksin in response to an incident
last month in which stray artillery shells fired by Myanmar soldiers on rebel
positions on the Thai-Myanmar border landed inside Thailand, triggering a Thai
response.
The remark, said the report, had hurt Thai soldiers' feelings. Gen Prem
reportedly expressed his disappointment to the Thai leader for not responding
more strongly to accusations by Myanmar about support given to anti-Yangon
rebels.
Gen Prem's views still carry much weight in this country.
But Mr Thaksin said the the article was 'not true at all', adding: 'Prem
was alarmed by the report.'
The depth of the current rift between the political leadership and the
public is reflected in a recent letter to a local newspaper: 'Our national
security is at stake and Thais must work together to resolve the current
conflicts.'
Mr Thaksin headed yesterday for the border province of Ratchaburi where an
attack by unknown gunmen on a Thai school bus on Tuesday left three students
dead.
The attack had further stoked anti-Myanmar sentiments in Thailand.
A massive manhunt for the three attackers was under way.
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