[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Jan 17, 2003.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January  17, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar foreign minister to visit India
AP - Myanmar says Thai-based dissidents incited Buddhist nuns to
AP - Thaksin plans Myanmar visit to seek cooperation in drugs suppression
AP - U.S. businesses call on Thailand to boost regional free trade
AFP - Two arrested "pseudo nuns" received NLD support: Myanmar junta
AFP - Myanmar to host drugs meet with India, China
Asia Times - Thai-Myanmar ties: Drug lords cash in
Asia Pulse - Vietnam's Danang Port Benefits From US$9 MLN Investment
IE - Delhi inches closer to Myanmar in decades
Asian Tribune - American writer fills an information gap for Myanmar Naga
new year festival
Bkk Post - SSA and four other militia join to fight dry season offensive
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Myanmar foreign minister to visit India
Jan 17 6:19 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung will go to
neighboring India next week for bilateral talks to improve warming relations
between the two countries, an official said.

It will be the first official visit to India by a Myanmar foreign minister
since the current military junta came to power in 1988.

Win Aung will arrive in India Jan. 19, at the invitation of his Indian
counterpart, Yashwant Sinha, said Thaung Tun, the director-general of the
Foreign Ministry's political department. The visit will likely last three or
four days, he said.

Myanmar and Indian officials accompanying the two ministers will discuss
cooperation and several issues including a possible visit to India by
Myanmar junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, Thaung Tun said.

"Exchange of visits is the core of strengthening ties between countries.
Under the globalization period, no country can stand alone. Myanmar is
playing an active role in regional politics," Thaung Tun said.

Than Shwe had visited India's neighbors, Bangladesh in December and China in
January.

Myanmar-India relations had been strained since the junta came to power in
September 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. But the relations
have improved significantly since 2000 with the exchange of visits by
officials from both sides.

Gen. Maung Aye, the No. 2 in state hierarchy, visited India in November 2000
and Jaswant Singh, the then Indian foreign minister, visited Myanmar in
February 2001.

India is one of Myanmars major trading partners with Myanmar enjoying a
favorable trade balance. India is also suspicious of its rival China's close
military ties with Myanmar.
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Myanmar says Thai-based dissidents incited Buddhist nuns to
Jan 17 3:00 PM ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A protest by two Buddhist nuns who were arrested for
demonstrating in front of Yangon city hall was incited by anti-government
dissidents based in Thailand, a Myanmar official said Friday.

Authorities arrested the two nuns on Thursday for the rare show of public
protest.

``The protest by two nuns ... was nothing but one of the subversionist acts
of the Thai-based dissidents,'' Brig. Than Tun, a senior junta official,
told reporters.

Anti-government protesters risk several years' imprisonment. Thet Naung Soe,
a law student who demonstrated in front of the same city hall in August last
year, was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Than Tun did not disclose the nuns' whereabouts, or say if they are still
under detention or if they would be charged.

He said the pair was instigated by Thein Win, a member of the All Burma
Students Democratic Front based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot. Thein
Win was not immediately available for comment.

Some witnesses said the nuns were holding up a sign protesting high
commodity prices when they were arrested. Other witnesses said they held the
fighting peacock flag, the symbol of the pro-democracy movement.

Than Tun said they also shouted slogans demanding the release of political
prisoners, restoration of democracy and overthrow of the military
government.

He said one of the nuns, Ma Than Htay, 25, had illegally worked in Mae Sot
for three years before being ordained as a Buddhist nun on Dec. 30 in the
town of Bago near Yangon. The other woman, Thin Thin Oo, became a nun a year
ago and had frequently traveled between Mae Sot and Bago, Than Tun said.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962. The
military held a general election in 1990, but refused to honor the results
when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory.

The two sides have been holding reconciliation talks since late 2000, but no
real progress has been made.
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Thaksin plans Myanmar visit to seek cooperation in drugs suppression
Fri Jan 17,12:06 AM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra plans to
visit Myanmar next month for talks on building cooperation in the war
against drugs.

Thaksin told reporters Friday he will meet leaders of Myanmar's ruling junta
on Feb. 10 and 11, following a meeting next week between army officers of
the two countries on combating the drug menace. There was no immediate
confirmation by Myanmar on the visit.

Thaksin said he wants to seek the junta's cooperation on the "rampant drug
problem, especially in the drug producing zones."

Thaksin has said he wants to make Thailand drug free by April 1, a pledge
critics say is unrealistic.

The Thai government says drug smuggling from Myanmar and drug use is
Thailand's public enemy No. 1. Officials fear that an estimated 1 billion
tablets of methamphetamine tablets could be smuggled into Thailand from
Myanmar this year.

The drugs are known to be produced by drug lords and armies in border areas
of Myanmar. A leading suspect is the United Wa State Army, a former rebel
group that signed a cease-fire with the Myanmar junta and now enjoys virtual
autonomy in eastern Myanmar.

Thai officials privately say that the Myanmar junta turns a blind eye to the
drug production and smuggling activities in its border areas, a charge that
the junta denies.

Since coming to power two years ago, Thaksin has sought to improve
Thailand's relations with Myanmar, long troubled by border conflicts and the
drug problem. He made an official visit to Yangon in June 2001.
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U.S. businesses call on Thailand to boost regional free trade
Jan 17 5:38 AM ET
By DANIEL LOVERING, Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thailand must lead Southeast Asia in promoting
freer trade if the region is to win U.S. investments that would otherwise go
to China, a U.S. business representative said Friday.

Efforts by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to further open regional
markets would lure new investments and strengthen Thailand's position as a
hub for trade, said Ernest Bower, president of the U.S.-ASEAN Business
Council.

"If you make decisions that enhance the business climate, we'll be here,"
said Bower, who met with Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Finance
Minister Somkid Jatusripitak during a weeklong visit to Thailand.
"Otherwise, bets go elsewhere, probably to China."

The amount of U.S. investment in the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations, or ASEAN, is five times greater than that in China, according
to Bower, who added: "I don't see Americans pulling investments out of
Southeast Asia."

Bower cited Thailand's commitment to the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement, or
AFTA, as a reason why U.S. investment in the kingdom had grown sevenfold and
trade between the two nations had doubled between 1991 and 2002.

He said Thailand had taken the lead in pushing for lower tariffs to
facilitate trade in the region and urged other governments to follow.

"With Thailand we see a leader who's committed to the AFTA," said Bower. "We
would recommend that ASEAN take a cue from Prime Minister Thaksin if they
want to benefit."

A barrier to freer trade within ASEAN is a tendency of some countries to
renege on previous commitments. Thailand is particularly upset with
Malaysia, which has tried to protect its national auto industry by backing
away from plans to cut tariffs on imported cars and car parts. This has hurt
Thailand, a major auto exporter.

Under the 1992 AFTA accord, ASEAN's six older and more developed members,
including Thailand and Malaysia, agreed to cut tariffs to less than 5
percent on most products traded among themselves. Newer ASEAN members have a
later deadline.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council is based in Washington, D.C., and represents
more than 200 American companies.
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Two arrested "pseudo nuns" received NLD support: Myanmar junta

YANGON, Jan 17 (AFP) - Myanmar's military junta on Friday accused two
"pseudo nuns" arrested for protesting against the government of receiving
support from exiled members of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League
for Democracy (NLD).

"This was the work of NLD (National League for Democracy) terrorists in
exile, who used religion to deliberately incite unrest in the country," said
Brigadier General Than Tun, from the office of the chief of military
intelligence.

Than Thun also said that several members of the NLD in exile "who had
infiltrated Myanmar with the purpose of creating unrest in Yangon as well as
Mandalay" had been arrested last month.

He did not specify numbers, but said there were other "pseudo Buddhist nuns"
among the group.

Than Tun described the two arrested women, Than Htay and Thin Thin Oo, as
"pseudo nuns" and said they had demonstrated Thursday in front of Yangon's
city hall, shouting pro-democracy and anti-government slogans and demanding
the release of political prisoners.

"We confiscated two of the fighting peacock flags they were brandishing as
well as a portrait of General Aung San," he said.

General Aung San -- the father of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- is
considered the mastermind behind Myanmar's independence from Britain, while
the fighting peacock is a symbol of the country's democracy movement.

One woman had become a nun a year ago, while the other had begun wearing
nun's robes just 15 days ago, Than Thun said.

"That's why I say that both these people have been pretending to be Buddhist
nuns and were creating unrest," he said.

"According to investigations both these persons attended a training course
on democracy and human rights held at Mae Sot (in Thailand's north) by the
NLD in exile," he said.

Two major exiled NLD groups in Thailand told AFP they had not heard of the
women.

Myanmar's junta strictly forbids demonstrations of any kind, however
individuals are intermittently arrested in the capital for protesting in
public, usually against the ongoing rule of the regime.

Some 85 percent of Myanmar's population is Buddhist, and monks are highly
respected.

Myanmar's monks have played an important role in the country's pro-democracy
movement. Some 30 of them were reportedly shot dead in the August 1988
uprising by pro-democracy protestors in Yangon, the nation's capital.
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Myanmar to host drugs meet with India, China

YANGON, Jan 17 (AFP) - Myanmar is to host a two-day drugs meet with India
and China next week on the issue of chemicals used in the production of
methamphetamines, the country's ruling military regime said Friday.

The meeting next Monday and Tuesday would discuss the problem of ephedrine,
a precursor chemical the regime says is smuggled in mostly from India and
China to produce methamphetamines, mostly in illicit factories in border
areas.

"The meeting is essentially a bilateral one between Myanmar and India, to
which China has been invited as an observer," Police Colonel Kham Aung,
spokesman for the national drug committee, told reporters.

Kham Aung said over nine million stimulant tablets had been seized inside
the country over the last year, most of which were produced with ephedrine
from India. China was another major source of the chemical, he said.

"We need to seriously address the problem, not by pointing accusing fingers
at each other but by coming up with technical solutions in a spirit of
mutual cooperation," he said.

Drugs trafficking is a perennial irritant to relations between Myanmar and
neighbouring Thailand, with both sides accusing the other of supporting
ethnic armies involved in the trade.

Thailand's army said recently it was braced for a record influx of up to one
billion methamphetamine pills to be trafficked across the Myanmar border
this year, up from an estimated 700 million pills in 2002.

Myanmar's junta has repeatedly denied allegations that it is engaged in the
drugs trade, which United States and Thai anti-narcotics authorities believe
is controlled by ethnic armies allied to Yangon.

The United States acknowledged in November last year that the junta had
cooperated with the international community on drugs suppression.

James Kelly, the US State Department's top policymaker for East Asia and the
Pacific, said that while the area under poppy cultivation in Myanmar had
decreased, "unfortunately, methamphetamine production, which strikes worst
at Burma's Southeast Asian neighbours, has likely increased".
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Asia Times Online - Jan 17, 2003
Thai-Myanmar ties: Drug lords cash in
By Tom Fawthrop

BANGKOK - Thailand's policy of attempting to improve diplomatic and economic
ties with Myanmar has undermined attempts to stop the flow of narcotics
across the porous Myanmese border, says leading Thai senator Dr Kraisak
Choonhavan.

Kraisak, chairman of the Thai Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, is a
strong critic of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's policy shift toward
closer engagement and the avoidance of any confrontation with Yangon and its
drug-trafficking ally the United Wa State Army (UWSA). In a recent interview
with Asia Times Online, the senator charged: "The government has bent over
backwards to please the generals in Rangoon, the Burmese are dictating to
us."

The softly-softly approach with the prickly Myanmese generals appears to be
at odds with the latest Thai intelligence reports predicting a flood of
methamphetamine pills swamping the Thai market this year. While Thaksin
stresses the importance of friendly diplomatic relations with Yangon, up to
a billion yaba ("crazy medicine", as the Thais refer to speed) tablets from
the UWSA-controlled drug laboratories inside Myanmar's Shan are expected to
be smuggled across the border this year. Thailand already has an estimated
250,000 addicts and is now facing an epidemic of yaba addiction.

Thailand's northern military command has classified the nation's top
security threat as the drug operations across the border masterminded by
ethnic Wa and Chinese, who in recent years have seized control over most of
the Shan territory of eastern Myanmar.

About half of the Wa army is used by the Myanmese army as a border security
force along much of the 850-kilometer frontier with Thailand. Shan sources
estimate the Wa control 80 percent of the opium-heroin trade and all the
methamphetamine laboratories, which produce the easy-to-smuggle pills.

About this time last year Thai soldiers engaged in periodic clashes along
the border with Myanmese army and their ethnic-Wa allies in a bitter war of
words and bullets. Since the 1989 ceasefire agreement with Yangon, the Wa
armies have stopped fighting the government and formed a de facto alliance.
The 20,000-strong UWSA has acquired heavy artillery and anti-tank weapons,
making it the most heavily armed drug mafia in the world.

Thaksin has made sure there will be no repeat of last year's confrontation
with Myanmar's generals by his recent replacement of key army commanders who
favored a tougher approach.

Wa drug baron Wei Hsueh Kang is wanted both in Thailand and the United
States for drug trafficking. The US State Department has put a US$2 million
reward on his head.

In talks with Bangkok during 2002, the Myanmese junta showed no interest in
the Thai request to crack down on Wei Hsueh Kang's operations. But Yangon
did insist on the removal of Thai army chief General Surayud Chulanont and
of the commander of the 3rd Army (which patrols the Chiang Mai region of
northern Thailand), as well as an end to the so-called "provocative
operations" of Task Force 399 along the border as preconditions for friendly
Myanmar-Thailand relations.

By the end of 2002 the Thaksin administration had obliged on all three
counts. The two key generals were replaced, and Task Force 399 has been
scaled down and removed from the border.

Kraisak commented that General Surayud was "the first professional army
chief in modern Thai history and highly conscientious in the field of
combating drug traffickers". The Thai senator argued that the transfer of a
highly respected army chief at the behest of Burmese generals is
"humiliating - our national pride is being trampled on for speculative
business gains".

Thaksin has opted for closer relations with Yangon with a strong emphasis on
increased business ties as the best way to prod the generals in the
direction of shutting down the Wa's burgeoning drug empire. Cooperation, not
confrontation, is the hallmark of the new track in Myanmar-Thailand
relations.

In November, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the Thai defense minister,
disclosed bilateral cooperation on four megaprojects: the construction of a
hydroelectric dam on the Salween River by Thailand's MDX company, a coal
mine in a Myanmese town opposite Prachuap Khiri Khan, a port project in
Tavoy, and a Mae Sot-Yangon road project.

"Joint development will make border areas more open and help eliminate bad
people, minority people and bad things hidden along the border and ensure
greater security," said the defense minister, who has been linked with Thai
logging companies and other private business interests in Myanmar. General
Chavalit also claimed "drug production would decline if minority people were
cleared from border areas through peaceful means".

This business-first agenda is deeply resented by many in the Thai military.
General Anu Sumitra, former military intelligence chief in the Chiang Mai
(3rd Army) region, declared in a letter to the Bangkok Post: "The defense
minister and the prime minister have business interests in Burma. To protect
those business interests, they are even prepared to sacrifice the dignity of
our army," a statement that reflected the sentiments of many current senior
officers.

Thaksin has ordered a domestic crackdown on illegal drugs but with major
operations ordered to stay well clear of border suppression that might
antagonize the Wa and their allies, the generals in Yangon.

Privy councilor and former prime minister Prem Tinsulanond has also
expressed concern about the prospect that there was no end to the
methamphetamine invasion, and apparently favors retaining Task Force 399 as
the frontline defense against unwelcome imports from the Wa drug lords.

The Thai government and others who advocate the soft-engagement approach
with Yangon argue that the generals and the Wa leaders really want drug
eradication. An agreement to phase out opium production in the Wa-controlled
territory by 2005 has been widely publicized. However, no such pledge has
been made about stopping the methamphetamine trade.

Senator Kraisak and other analysts argue that the power of the generals has
long been closely wedded to the Wa-Chinese narco-economy, estimated to be
worth more than $550 million a year, and that without these narco-profits
fueling banks and business in Yangon, the economy would have collapsed long
ago. Wa investments include the Myanmar Mayflower Group, the Hong Pang
corporation (directly linked to heroin trafficker Wei Hsueh Kang), and
Yangon Airways.

There is no sign that the Thai government, for all its friendly overtures,
is having any impact on Wa narcotics production. On the contrary, the
evidence points to an expanding Wa drug empire. New drug laboratories have
sprung up at Myawaddy in the west where they can pump pills into central
Thailand, by the banks of the Mekong, and also in Kachin state, which
extends the yaba plague to both Laos and India.

"The new Thai approach is a complete failure," said Senator Kraisak.
"Thaksin's policy only makes it easier for the drug traffickers. Our
military are now reluctant to engage with intruders on the border - this
boosts the confidence of the Wa soldiers."
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Thursday January 16, 11:22 AM
Vietnam's Danang Port Benefits From US$9 MLN Investment

HANOI, Jan 16 Asia Pulse - The Danang port in central Quang Nam province has
been chosen as the starting point of the East West Economic Corridor project
(EWEC).

The 1,600-km corridor runs through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar,
connecting the Pacific with the Indian Ocean and providing opportunities for
development to people living along it.

Thanks to the corridor, the Danang port, together with Cam Ranh port in
southern Khanh Hoa province, will directly connect with some Southeast Asian
countries.

The Government poured 139 billion VND (US$9 million) into the upgrade of
Danang port in the 1996-2000 period.

In 2001, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) decided to invest
more than US$100 million in expanding the Tien Sa port terminal of the
Danang port in the 2001-04 period. The project will help raise the Danang
port's handling capacity to 4-5 million tonnes of cargo a year from the 2002
figure of 2 million tonnes.

Work of the project also includes construction of a 375 metre long
embankment, upgrade of two dry docks, and building of the Tuyen Son bridge,
the fourth bridge spanning the Han river, which connects the Tien Sa port
terminal with the national highway 1A.

Last December, senior officials from Viet Nam, Laos, Thailand, Japan and
representatives of Mukdahan, Savanakhet provinces and Danang city gathered
in Danang city, urging the Danang-Tien Sa port to modernise its handling
equipment and streamline administrative and customs procedures to attract
more customers.
VNA
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Indian Express -  Jan 16, 2003
Delhi inches closer to Myanmar in decades
Jyoti Malhotra

New Delhi, January 16: From Mandalay to Ratnagiri via Yangon, the story of
India and Myanmar is like a shared history-geography lesson.

If the tortured histories of royal exile a hundred years ago gave way to
mutual antipathy during the post-colonial dictatorship decades, the
geo-strategic prize of Myanmar is at the turn of this century spawning a
shadow war between Communist China and democratic India.

Myanmarese Foreign Minister U Win Aung arrives in New Delhi at such a moment
on January 19, having returned from a visit to Beijing with his boss,
military dictator Than Shwe, barely ten days ago.

And although China's all-pervasive influence in Myanmar is at least four
decades old, signs are that Yangon is seeking to balance that power-play by
reaching out to India.

This growing warmth between India and a military dictatorship on its eastern
flank is fanning new interest not only in the South-East Asian chessboard,
but also in faraway capitals like Washington. As India stirs to take on the
Chinese dragon in its own backyard, whether by conducting an oceanographic
survey on the Andamans Sea or by offering Yangon new projects in the health
and education sectors, the battle for the mind of Myanmar seems well and
truly joined.

This is the first time that a Myanmarese foreign minister is making an
independent visit to India since 1987. In response, New Delhi is readying
the red carpet.

Win Aung will be received by PM Vajpayee and Vice-President Shekhawat and
hosted by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, besides travelling to
Hyderabad and Kolkata.

But a high-point in this great game of the East actually came in November
last year, when after 23 years India reopened its consulate in Mandalay, the
famed seat of the Burmese kings.

It was from this city of the Glass Palace that King Thebaw was in 1885
banished to Ratnagiri. Hardly a few years before, the last Mughal king
Bahadurshah Zafar had been exiled after the failed mutiny of 1857 to a patch
of earth under the Rangoon sky.

But Yangon's decision to reopen Mandalay was located much beyond the common
curse of history, in hardnosed politics : The only other countries that have
missions in this major city are China and Bangladesh.''India's decision to
end its self-imposed agony over the incarceration of Aung San Suu Kyi and
throw in its pragmatic lot with Myanmar has helped the military
establishment to balance China with India,'' analysts here said.

To underline its commitment, New Delhi recently decided to develop a port on
the Arakan coast on the Bay of Bengal (the Chinese-built listening facility
on the Coco Islands is not far away). Called the 'Kaladan' project, it
includes an inland waterway that connects Mizoram's Colodyne river that
flows into Myanmar and a highway from the Mizoram border to a city called
Kaletwa. The analysts pointed out that since Chinese president Jiang Zemin's
visit in 2001, Beijing has been keen to use the Irrawaddy river to build a
network of highways and waterways ''for access to the warm waters of the Bay
of Bengal.'' But Myanmar has so far not obliged.

Meanwhile, New Delhi has committed itself to a hydro-electric project on the
Chindwin river across Nagaland. While ONGC Videsh and Gail have decided to
pick up 20 pc and 10 pc stakes respectively in the gas exploration blocks on
the Rakhine coast. Significantly, for the first time ever, the Indian Navy
sent three ships to make a friendly port call only last December.

There's more. New Delhi has now decided to focus on visible initiatives such
as in the health and education sector. These include upgradation of
hospitals and universities, including the setting up a physics lab and a
bio-technology lab. Indian teachers and lecturers could go to Myanmar to
teach post-graduate students, while the North-Eastern Hill University in
Shillong and the University of Yangon are all set to cooperate further.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-01-17
American writer fills an information gap for Myanmar Naga new year festival
By Myo Theingi Cho

An American woman who developed an interest in Naga culture while attending
the tribal group's annual festival in northern Sagaing Division last year
has written a guide to the colourful two-day event. Mrs Brenda
Davidson-Shaddox, who has visited Myanmar every year since 1998, said she
was fascinated by the Nagas and hoped that the guide would help to overcome
a shortage of information about the tribe and the festival.

"There was no information available about the festival when I joined it last
year," Mrs Davidson-Shaddox, from San Antonio, Texas, told Myanmar Times
last week. "The only book I could find was about Nagas in India," she said.

The 48-page, paperback guide, Naga Festival, which features many photographs
taken by the author, was published last month by the Ministry of Hotels and
Tourism in collaboration with the SST tourism company.

"I have photographed a lot of the other tribes in Myanmar, but the Naga are
just fascinating to me," Mrs Davidson-Shaddox said, adding that she hoped
the guide would help to make the festival more widely known. The festival,
held in the mountain town of Lahe, takes place this year on January 14 and
15.

It celebrates the traditional new year of the Naga people and is attended by
members of the group from throughout northwestern Myanmar and neighbouring
India. As well as describing the celebrations and other cultural
information, the guide also includes practical information about travel and
accommodation arrangements for the festival.

Mrs Davidson-Shaddox, a writer-photographer whose work has been published in
newspapers and magazines throughout the world, said it took two weeks to
complete the guide. In a forward to the publication, she writes of the Nagas
that she has been "privileged to be accepted into their homes, have shared
their food and drink, and learned that their culture is unique to the
world."

She describes the Nagas as a "brave and independent people who still
practice their traditional way of life, while seeking knowledge and
understanding of more modern ways." Mrs Davidson-Shaddox expressed support
for a Naga tribal museum being developed at Khamti, about 60 kilometres
southwest of Lahe, saying it was important to preserve the group's culture
and traditions. "No one can begrudge any people from seeking a better life
through education, technology, travel and exposure to other cultures,"

she writes in the forward. "But the loss of the Naga history would be a
great loss to the world. While the Nagas progress, we urge the preservation
of artefacts, textiles and other items of the Naga people and encourage the
recording of Naga traditions for future generations."

- The Myanmar Times -
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Bangkok Post - Friday 17 January 2003
SSA and four other militia join to fight dry season offensive
Pro-Rangoon troops set to face united front
Wassana Nanuam

The Shan State Army and four other anti-Rangoon minority groups have joined
forces to fight an expected dry season onslaught by Burmese troops and their
allies.

A Third Army source said the SSA led by Chao Yod Suek, the Karen National
Union, the Karenni National Progressive Party, Arakan Liberation Party and
Chin National Front agreed on a united operation late last month.

The five groups had set up a joint command centre at Doi Tailang, the SSA's
major stronghold opposite Mae Hong Son's Pang Ma Pha district.

Rangoon's expected crackdown on Burmese minority groups would probably make
extensive use of Wa and hilltribe military volunteers, he said.

Maj-Gen Kittipat Sinpeng, assistant chief of the Directorate of Joint Civil
Affairs, said Thai troops were ordered to be careful in responding to border
encroachments during clashes inside Burma.

To emphasise the military's policy of not supporting Burmese minorities, the
Surasi task force last month closed the offices of 10 anti-Rangoon groups _
including Burmese students, the KNU and Mon rebels in Kanchanaburi _ and
would push the groups back to Burma, he said.

A source said last year's closure of Maneeloy Centre in Ratchaburi prompted
many Burmese students to flee to Ban Tham Hin shelter for refugees in the
same province, but only about 200 of them remain there as 600 others were
sent to third countries.

Army spokesman Col Somkhuan Saengpattaranate said the army planned to set up
10,844 more self-defence villages as intelligence bases and drug-free zones
in 59 border provinces.

So far, 3,432 self-defence villages have been established along the border.
A total of 132 villages will be formed this year.

- Army commander Gen Somdhat Attanand has had to delay his planned Jan 21-22
visit to Burma because his Burmese counterpart, Gen Maung Aye, has other
commitments, a source said.

Rangoon had asked the trip be rescheduled for later this month when Deputy
Prime Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was due to visit.

However, Gen Somdhat refused to accompany either Gen Chavalit or Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to Burma on Jan 27 and early next month, the
source said.
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