|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - JUNE
18-19, 2002.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Suu Kyi speaks out for women
Reuters - Myanmar troops advance on besieged
rebel base
AFP - Aung San Suu Kyi calls for women's
empowerment as she turns 57
Reuters - Thai troops open fire across tense
Myanmar border
Reuters - Myanmar Muslims stay put in Malaysia
U.N. office
Reuters - Suu Kyi marks 57th birthday with call
for women's rights
Reuters - Bulldozers put Hong Kong hell garden
to rest
AP - Defense lawyers in Myanmar coup trial
reject state testimony as weak
AP - U.N. investigates plight of Myanmar Muslims
seeking refugee status
AP - Myanmar democracy leader calls for women to
play leading role in Myanmar
AP - Myanmar government launches new
offensive against ethnic rebels
----------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 18 June, 2002, 14:27
GMT 15:27 UK
Suu Kyi speaks out for women Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has launched a stinging
criticism of the treatment of women in Burma.
In an address to mark her 57th birthday on Wednesday, she said Burmese
women were rarely allowed to gain positions of importance and that the situation
needed to change.
She also praised them for their courage in overcoming the handicaps imposed
on them - and appealed to them to play a greater role in paving the way for
social, political and economic change.
Correspondents say she deliberately avoided a verbal attack on the Burmese
Government, but some implicit criticism can be read into her statement.
Birthday message
Aung San Suu Kyi is Burma's main opposition leader, and her speech was
directed at both women within the country and Burmese exiles.
"In Burma, as in many other parts of the world, women are the
underprivileged gender," she said.
"In areas of conflict and crisis, it is our women and children who suffer
most. On the other hand, our women are rarely allowed to achieve decision-making
positions even though they are able and well qualified."
The pro-democracy leader also said women needed to reach their full
potential for the country to make progress.
"The women of Burma must shape not only their own destiny but the destiny
of the nation," she said.
They must play a vigorous and leading role in paving the way to social,
political and economic changes in the country."
Aung San Suu Kyi went on to praise Burmese women for the courage they had
shown in the past.
"Women have had to develop endurance and courage where they might overcome
the handicaps imposed on them by outmoded prejudice."
"I would like to call upon the women of Burma to use this courage and
endurance to ensure that we move forward as speedily as possible."
House arrest
Aung San Suu Kyi will be marking her birthday with the rare luxury of being
free from the restrictions of house arrest.
But little has been achieved since she was freed in May. The BBC's Larry
Jagan says the junta that rules the country has so far not made any attempt to
talk to her.
Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as the figurehead of the pro-democracy movement in
Burma in 1988.
She was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995 and again from September
2000 to May this year.
Since her release she has so far kept a low profile and avoided gestures
that could embarrass or anger the junta.
Although she is free to travel outside Rangoon she has only made one major
trip, and that was a private pilgrimage rather than an effort to rally political
support.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar troops advance on besieged
rebel base
Wed Jun 19, 3:14 AM ET By Andrew Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar
troops and their ethnic Wa allies are edging closer to a strategic base seized
last month by rebel guerrillas in the Golden Triangle near the tense border with
Thailand, sources at the frontier said on Wednesday.
The Shan State Army, one of the few ethnic minority militias still fighting the junta's rule of Myanmar, said it had withdrawn from forward positions around the Pang Mai Soong base after heavy shelling and an advance by some 700 Wa soldiers. In a statement, the Shan army said a "fierce battle" had raged from the
early hours of Tuesday well into the afternoon. It said Wa troops had now taken
over key hillocks near the base. The Shan said it was too early to estimate
casualties.
Some of the Wa troops are from battalions loyal to Wei Hsueh-Kang -- a
notorious drug baron with a $2 million price on his head offered by the United
States. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has vowed to catch Wei "dead or
alive".
The fighting at the border in recent weeks has soured relations between
Myanmar and Thailand. Bangkok accuses the Wa of producing most of the heroin and
methamphetamine pills trafficked out of the Golden Triangle, while Myanmar
blames the Shan.
Yangon says Thailand supports rebel groups such as the Shan and the Karen
National Union, a charge Bangkok denies.
TEMPERS FLARE
Tempers flared between the two countries last month after Thailand massed
thousands of troops at the border.
They were ostensibly there for a training exercise, but Thai military
sources said they were preparing for a strike against Wei and his Wa troops in
an effort to stem the flood of illegal drugs entering Thailand and fraying the
country's social fabric.
After protests from Myanmar, the Thai troops were withdrawn. But the
separatist Shan rebels took advantage of the confusion to seize some border
outposts from the Myanmar military.
Myanmar said Thai soldiers helped the Shan, and has closed key border
crossings in protest. State-run media in Myanmar have repeatedly denounced
Thailand and the junta says it will not hold talks to mend relations until it
has recaptured its bases.
Myanmar boycotted a meeting of regional ministers in Thailand on Wednesday
and has organised mass rallies in the Golden Triangle at which citizens
denounced Thailand and rebel groups. The Shan army says people were forced to
attend the rallies.
The Shan also accuses Myanmar of using child soldiers to attack its
positions and of forcing locals to act as porters and human shields, shackling
them to prevent escape. The junta insists it has ended forced labour in Myanmar.
Thai newspapers say the Thai government and military are at odds on how to
deal with Myanmar. The government is keen to play down tensions while the
military favours a more belligerent approach, particularly against the Wa force,
newspapers say.
The Thai army rejects claims it helped the Shan, but says it returned fire
when stray shells landed on Thai soil. Analysts say many in the Thai army view
the Shan as a counterbalance to the Wa in the effort to crack down on drugs
entering Thailand.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Aung San Suu Kyi calls for women's
empowerment as she turns 57
Rangoon (AFP) - Pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 57th birthday by calling for greater
empowerment of women so Myanmar could take its "rightful place in today's
world."
"In areas of conflict and crisis, it is our women and children who suffer
most," the Nobel peace laureate said, according to a transcript released by
rights group ALTSEAN-Burma.
Myanmar women were rarely allowed to achieve positions of importance and
their security and destiny was out of their control, she said, adding "this has
to change".
"The women of Burma (Myanmar) must shape not only their own destiny, but
also the destiny of the nation. For Burma to progress and take its rightful
place in today's world, the women must be empowered."
Women could play vital roles in "paving the way to social, political and
economic changes in this country," she said, but they have been handicapped by
outmoded prejudices.
Aung San Suu Kyi heads the National League for Democracy (NLD), which in
1990 won a landslide election victory that was never recognised by the ruling
generals.
"The Lady," as she is widely known here, was released six weeks ago from 19
months of house arrest, but has since been largely ignored by the junta.
Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta had been involved in secret talks brokered
by the United Nations launched in October 2000, one month after she began her
second stint under house arrest.
But since her release she has met no senior junta generals, a sign the
historic discussions aimed at national reconciliation have stalled.
She was due to spend Wednesday morning at one of her favourite monasteries
in Yangon, where she would present offerings to monks, before traveling to the
NLD headquarters, according to NLD spokesman U Lwin.
A women's committee was also due to commemorate Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday
with readings and a musical performance.
In the evening she was to host a birthday party with close friends and
diplomats at her lakeside residence, the spokesman said.
On Friday Aung San Suu Kyi traveled outside the capital for the first time
since her release, visiting a revered Buddhist monk 320 kilometres (200 miles)
south of Yangon whom she called on in 1995 after her release from a previous
period of house arrest.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday June 19, 7:43 PM
Thai troops open fire across tense Myanmar border By Jintana Kijmee CHIANG MAI, Thailand, June 19 (Reuters) - Thai troops opened fire across the
border with Myanmar on Wednesday after two soldiers were wounded by stray
shells, in an incident set to inflame simmering tension between the two
countries.
Myanmar troops and their ethnic Wa allies are advancing to try to retake a
strategic base seized last month by rebel Shan guerrillas near the border with
Thailand.
Thai military sources said two stray shells from the MYANMAR fighting
landed just across the border in Thailand on Wednesday afternoon.
Myanmar's ruling junta announced earlier this month it was launching an
attack on positions seized by the rebel Shan State Army and warned Thailand not
to interfere.
The junta is furious that Thai troops fired across the border last month,
accusing the Thai military of supporting the Shan guerrillas.
The Thai army denies supporting the Shan but says it will return fire if
stray shells cross the border.Myanmar says the Shan are smuggling drugs out of
the Golden Triangle, but Thailand says the Wa are to blame for most of the
heroin and methamphetamine stimulants produced in the region.
Myanmar has closed key border crossings with Thailand, boycotted a meeting
of regional foreign ministers in Thailand on Wednesday and has rebuffed requests
for talks.
Myanmar newspapers, a mouthpiece for the government, have denounced
Thailand, which they refer to as "Yodaya" -- an allusion to a Thai kingdom
crushed by a Myanmar army in 1767.
"Yodaya has been abetting the insurgents and groups opposing its neighbours
and, on the other hand, brazenly lying that it has never practised the policy of
giving encouragement and sanctuary to these groups," said an article in the
English-language New Light of Myanmar newspaper on Wednesday.
TEMPERS FLARE
Tempers flared between the two countries last month after Thailand massed
thousands of troops at the border.
They were ostensibly there for a training exercise, but Thai military
sources said they were preparing for a strike against the Wa in an effort to
stem the flood of illegal drugs entering Thailand and fraying the country's
social fabric.
After protests from Myanmar, the Thai troops were withdrawn. But the
separatist Shan rebels took advantage of the confusion to seize some border
outposts from the Myanmar military.
Government troops and their Wa allies are now trying to retake the bases.
The Shan army said on Wednesday it had lost ground after heavy shelling and
attacks by some 700 Wa troops.
In a statement, the Shan army said a "fierce battle" had raged from the
early hours of Tuesday well into the afternoon. It said Wa troops had now taken
over key hillocks near the base. The Shan said it was too early to estimate
casualties.
Some of the Wa troops are from battalions loyal to Wei Hsueh-Kang -- a
notorious drug baron with a $2 million price on his head offered by the United
States. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has vowed to catch Wei "dead or
alive".
The Shan army accuses Myanmar of using child soldiers to attack its
positions and of forcing locals to act as porters and human shields, shackling
them to prevent escape. The junta insists it has ended forced labour in Myanmar.
Thai newspapers say the Thai government and military are at odds on how to
deal with Myanmar. The government is keen to play down tensions while the
military favours a more belligerent approach, particularly against the Wa force,
newspapers say.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was bitterly criticised in the Thai media
last month after he told the army not to overreact if stray shells landed on
Thai soil. The military said it never overreacted and followed accepted rules of
engagement.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday June 19, 4:37 PM
Myanmar Muslims stay put in Malaysia U.N. office KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (Reuters)
- Efforts by the U.N. refugee agency to persuade 18 Myanmar Muslim asylum
seekers to leave the agency's office in the Malaysian capital were making no
progress on Wednesday, a U.N. official said.
The 18 ethnic minority Rohingya people, who entered the office of the U.N.
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday and Tuesday, are demanding that
they be classified as refugees.
"We are now talking to the Rohingya people to get them out of the
compound," a UNHCR official told reporters outside the office gates.
"We are talking, talking but they are not listening to us. Our negotiations
with them are under way," said the official, who declined to be identified.
A group of Rohingya people staged a similar occupation of the grounds of
the UNHCR office in Kuala Lumpur in January.
The agency handed that group of 28 over to Malaysian immigration
authorities and the international human rights group Amnesty International later
criticised the UNHCR's treatment of the group as "cavalier".
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya people fled from western Myanmar's
Arakan state into neighbouring Bangladesh in the early 1990s, citing persecution
by the military in the mostly Buddhist country.
Nearly 230,000 of them went home under UNHCR supervision in the mid 1990s
but some 21,000 remain in Bangladesh.
It is estimated that there are up to 3,000 Rohingya in Malaysia.
One young man who entered the UNHCR compound on Tuesday told reporters
through a wire fence that he and his friends wanted papers allowing them to get
jobs in Malaysia.
"Anything they can give to me," said Akbar Shah, 19, when asked what he
wanted from the U.N. agency.
Akbar, who said he had been brought to Malaysia as a two-year-old, said if
he went back to Myanmar the military government would kill him.
"(They) say 'this country is not for you'. Now my family is all here," he
said.
Malaysian police, who would generally hand over foreigners without papers
to the immigration authorities for deportation, were not immediately available
for comment.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Suu Kyi marks 57th birthday with call for
women's rights
By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi marked her 57th birthday on Wednesday with
a call for women to be empowered to help bring democracy to her military-ruled
country.
In a statement issued on her behalf by an opposition pressure group, the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner said the women of Myanmar, also known as Burma,
were underprivileged and denied rights to security or control over their lives.
"This has to change," she said. "The women of Burma must shape not only
their own destiny, but also the destiny of the nation. For Burma to progress and
take its rightful place in today's world, the women must be empowered."
"They must play a vigorous and leading role in paving the way to social,
political and economic changes in this country."
She called on women to help Myanmar "move forward as speedily as possible
that we might become a peaceful, prosperous nation, secure in its democratic
institutions".
Suu Kyi celebrated her birthday at the offices of her National League for
Democracy (NLD) where members of the NLD's women's wing organised a party.
About 250 activists attended the function at which Suu Kyi made a speech
about the role of women in society. She later departed for a private function at
her lakeside home in Yangon.
SEEKING TALKS
Suu Kyi has kept a low profile since being released from 19 months of house
arrest on May 6.
She said last month she had been freed without restrictions but so far
appears to have gone out of her way not to anger the generals who have ruled the
country for the last 40 years.
Suu Kyi has said she wants to hold substantive talks with the military
junta over the future of the country and expects the government to move
eventually towards democracy and the isolation that has left it a pariah on the
world stage.
But, having succumbed to international pressure to release Suu Kyi, the
junta shows no signs of compromising politically and hundreds of political
prisoners are thought by critics to remain in detention.
Many of those in detention are members of Suu Kyi's NLD, which won the
country's last general election by a landslide but has never been allowed to
govern.
Analysts say the military government has switched tactics, deciding that
rather than persecuting Suu Kyi and facing international ire, it is more
effective simply to ignore her.
They say the junta has been on a charm offensive and note it has also
pledged to crack down on drug production in the Golden Triangle region in an
effort to persuade Western nations to end crippling economic sanctions.
Myanmar's state-run media have made no mention of Suu Kyi since her
release. Domestic news has been dominated by reports on tension with Thailand
and by a trial of relatives of elderly, former dictator Ne Win, now under house
arrest.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday June 19, 5:44 PM
Bulldozers put Hong Kong hell garden to rest By Carrie Lee HONG KONG (Reuters) - Mention
Tiger Balm Gardens and many Hong Kong people will recall shocking images of
hell, liars hanging by their tongues and sinners being hurled into bubbling
cauldrons of oil.
But there's revenge at last for those who have been traumatised by these
memories -- the public section of the Tiger Balm Gardens complex in Hong Kong,
which to some gave more nightmares than it did balm, is now being razed to the
ground.
Built by ointment maker Aw Boon-haw, the public garden is one of Hong
Kong's best known classical Chinese gardens with hundreds of sculptures and
paintings depicting gruesome scenes of hell from Chinese and Taoist folklore.
Parents used to take terrified children by the hand through the series of
murals to give them a glimpse of what they could expect in the afterlife if they
misbehaved.
Haw Par Villa in Singapore, also built by Aw's family, was fashioned in the
same way before it was remodelled into a more appealing theme park in the early
1990s.
Now, the sprawling 67-year-old Hong Kong garden, once featured in tourist
guide books, is being levelled to make way for a housing development, much to
the chagrin of afficionados of antiquities.
"It's a pity. I like it. There are a lot of things to see. Now there is one
less place to go for leisure," said Mrs Chan, a housewife in her 50s who was a
frequent visitor to the garden.
BUILT BY BALM MAKER
Born in Myanmar, Aw built the garden complex as a retreat for his family in
Hong Kong, and it later passed to his daughter Sally.
Without blueprints, he gave verbal instructions to craftsmen of what he
wanted, and what resulted were structures with cultural influences from Britain,
China, India and Myanmar.
The compound comprises not only the garden of hell, but also Haw Par
Mansion -- a former residence of the Aws -- and a private garden.
Boon-haw and his brother, Boon-par, made their fortune after they developed
Tiger Balm from the herbal medicine business they inherited from their father in
1908.
The pungent medicinal ointment proved to be an instant hit and is still
popular all over the world.
Boon-haw then went on to accumulate a sprawling press empire with at least
12 titles in different countries at its height.
After his death in 1954, his daughter Sally took over the media business,
which later became known as Sing Tao Holdings Ltd.
She was named by Asiaweek magazine in 1995 as one of Asia's 21 most
powerful women.
TIDE TURNS WITH DAUGHTER SALLY
But Sing Tao's fortunes turned with intense competition in Hong Kong's
media industry in the late 1990s. One of the biggest blows came when three of
Sally Aw's employees were jailed in 1999 for inflating newspaper circulation
figures.
Controversially, Sally Aw herself was never prosecuted, prompting cries of
cronyism given her close connections to Beijing and friendship with Hong Kong's
leader Tung Chee-Hwa.
Justice Secretary Elsie Leung later explained there was insufficient
evidence to prosecute and that the administration feared a prosecution would
have jeopardised the future of the entire company at a time of rising
unemployment.
In May 1999, Sally could not bear the enormous debts hanging over her
investments and she escaped bankruptcy by selling her controlling stake to
investment banker Lazard Asia Fund, which later sold the shares to a Hong Kong
tobacco baron.
She sold the Tiger Balm Gardens compound in 1998 to Cheung Kong (Holdings)
Ltd, a leading Hong Kong developer headed by Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing, in
a deal reported by newspapers to be worth HK$100 million (US$12.82 million).
The deal sparked calls from the public for the historic landmark to be
preserved. The government subsequently held talks with Cheung Kong and secured
an agreement that preserves the mansion and the private garden.
"The mansion is one of the very few remaining private residences of the
1930s, built in Chinese Renaissance style with a unique mixture of prevailing
Chinese and Western ideas in artistic decoration," a government spokesman said.
The administration has yet to decide how the Mansion and the private garden
will be used.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Defense lawyers in Myanmar coup
trial reject state testimony as weak
Mon Jun 17, 9:12 AM ET By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer YANGON, Myanmar - A lawyer for four relatives of former Myanmar dictator Ne
Win who are accused of treason on Monday slammed the prosecution's testimony,
calling it weak and uncorroborated.
During the defense's first day of arguments, lawyer Tun Sein told a special
tribunal that the prosecution has failed to provide enough evidence to back the
charges against his four clients.
Myanmar's military government alleges that Ne Win's son-in-law and three
grandsons tried to recruit military units to kidnap junta leaders and force them
to form a new regime loyal to Ne Win. They were arrested on March 7.
Aye Zaw Win and his sons ? Kyaw Ne Win, Aye Ne Win and Zwe Ne Win ? face
charges of high treason, a crime punishable by death. They are also charged with
inciting military personnel to commit high treason and the illegal importation
and use of telecommunications equipment.
Presiding judge Aung Ngwe later announced that he will rule on Friday
whether to accept the treason charges and proceed with the trial.
If he rules in favor of the prosecution, the defendants will be asked to
enter their pleas. None of the defendants have commented publicly about the
case.
On Monday, Tun Sein challenged the testimony of the prosecution's main
witness, Col. Than Htay, the commander of No. 77 light infantry division.
The colonel told authorities that Aye Ne Win, one of the grandsons, told
him about a plan to recruit military units to kidnap junta leaders and force
them to form a new regime loyal to Ne Win.
"Col. Than Htay's testimony against the accused is not strong. The
conversation between Aye Ne Win and the colonel was not tape recorded nor was
there any independent witness at the meeting," Tun Sein said.
He also said cash and gifts that were separately given to Ne Win's security
unit by the family was only "for the support of the security work and welfare of
the troops."
The prosecution has said the cash and gifts were bribes to recruit the unit
in the alleged coup plot.
Ne Win, 91, seized power in a bloodless coup in 1962. He led Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma, to economic ruin before stepping down in 1988 in the
face of pro-democracy demonstrations that were quashed by the military.
----------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. investigates plight of
Myanmar Muslims seeking refugee status
Wed Jun 19, 2:58 AM ET By PAULINE JASUDASON, Associated Press Writer KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - United Nations officials on Wednesday interviewed
18 Muslims from Myanmar who have occupied the grounds of a U.N. office in Kuala
Lumpur and demanded refugee status.
A U.N. staff member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a
representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had been talking to
individuals since the grounds were first occupied Monday.
The 18 say they are ethnic Rohingas and face certain death if they return
to military-ruled Myanmar, also known as Burma.
Seven adults and two children entered the U.N. compound Monday and asked
for refugee status. Some said they were activists and members of the National
League for Democracy, Myanmar's embattled opposition party.
Nine more men sneaked in before dawn Tuesday and appealed for similar
protection. A spokesman for the group, Akbar Khan, said Wednesday that the
Myanmar government persecutes the Rohingas.
"They say, `This country is not for you,'" Akbar, 19, told reporters from
behind the chain-link fence on the perimeter of the compound. "Only the U.N. can
help us."
The 18 have been allowed to stay in a chalet next to the refugee agency's
offices.
Myanmar's military junta allows freedom of worship, but conflict between
Muslims and Buddhists is not uncommon. Last year, witnesses said four Muslims
were killed in clashes with Buddhists in the northern town of Toungoo.
Muslims comprise 3.9 percent of Myanmar's 51 million people and Buddhists
nearly 89 percent. Malaysia is predominantly Muslim.
Police are keeping watch outside the gates of the U.N. building and have
said they would arrest the 18, who are considered illegal immigrants, as soon as
they leave the compound.
Malaysia has been cracking down on illegal immigrants since Indonesian
workers at a factory rioted in January during a police search for drugs.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar democracy leader calls for
women to play leading role in Myanmar
Wed Jun 19, 8:00 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - After
leading her country's struggle for democracy for more than a decade, Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday that more women were needed to
take a leading role in effecting social, political and economic change.
Her message was read out at a ceremony to mark her 57th birthday Wednesday
at the headquarters of her National League for Democracy party in the Myanmar
capital.
More than 400 party members gathered at the headquarters to mark the
occasion, which has been celebrated by Myanmar's pro-democracy movement since
1998 as Women Of Burma Day to spotlight women's contributions to the struggle
for democracy. Myanmar is also known as Burma.
Wearing an ivory-colored jacket and a blue sarong, with yellow roses in her
hair, Suu Kyi told her party members that she would not make a political speech
on her birthday but thanked them for organizing the ceremony.
Her message was read out instead by Tin Tin Win, a member of the party's
Women Affairs Committee, the organizers of Wednesday's celebration.
"Not only should the women of Burma work for the achievement of their
rights, but also work for the rights of the people. Myanmar women should take
the leading role to bring about the political change essential to the prosperity
and peace of the country," it said.
"For Burma to progress and take its rightful place in today's world, the
women must be empowered," said the statement. "They must play a vigorous and
leading role in paving the way to social, political and economic changes in this
country."
Women "are neither assured of their right to security nor their right to
shape their own destiny" because they are rarely allowed to hold decision-making
positions, it said. "This has to change."
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in a 1990
general election, but the military did recognize the results and continues to
rule the country.
She was freed from another 19 months of house arrest in May this year, and
has been engaged since late 2000 in closed-door political reconciliation talks
with the junta.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar government launches new
offensive against ethnic rebels
Tue Jun 18, 8:22 AM ET BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -
Myanmar troops have launched a new offensive against ethnic Shan rebels and
recaptured a post along the Thai border that they lost last month, officials
said Thursday. The violence has forced hundreds of villagers to flee their
homes.
Heavy fighting has been raging since Saturday, said Khur Hsen, spokeswoman
for the rebel Shan State Army, contacted by telephone. She said the guerrillas
abandoned one of four government posts, captured on May 20, after coming under
artillery shelling on Sunday.
Four guerrillas were wounded in the clashes, she said, adding that she
believed government forces had suffered heavy losses.
Myanmar officials could not be reached for comment.
A senior Thai officer based near the area of fighting, about 750 kilometers
(470 miles) north of Bangkok, said Myanmar had sent substantial forces to the
region and that they were supported by the United Wa State Army, an ethnic
guerrilla group allied with the government.
The officer, who insisted on anonymity, said the sound of mortar fire had
been continuously heard since Saturday, and that he believed the government
would recapture all of its lost outposts in a matter of days.
The clashes have driven about 600 Shan civilians to seek safety in
Thailand, while more than 1,100 Thai villagers living near the border have been
evacuated to areas out of Myanmar mortar range, officials said.
More than 10 mortar rounds a day have landed on the Thai side of the border
recently, said a local Thai official.
Fighting last month caused a sharp rift in relations between Thailand and
Myanmar when Rangoon accused the Thai army of shelling across the border in
support of the Shan guerrillas.
----------------------------------------------------------------- |