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(1) Shan Disclaim Responsibility For
Attack Last Week
(2) Land confiscation for Burmese Army for border
security
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Shan Disclaim Responsibility For Attack
Last Week
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S.H.A.N
The Shan commander whose units are active in eastern
denied last week's ambush that
killed a junta colonel had anything to do
with the
Lieutenant-Colonel Gawn Zeun, commander of the SSA's Kengtung Front,
who just returned from the annual
meeting at a Shan base across from
fighters were responsible for the
ambush on Dec.10 (S.H.A.N. had
reported it was on Sept.7) that
resulted in four dead, including
Khin Maung Hla, tactical commander
from Monghsat, and seven wounded.
According to the commander, the attack took place at
Mongtoom and Loi Hsarmhsoong
on the way to Monghsat. "The place was
thick with Wa and Lahu militia units, apart from the Burmese troops," he
stated. "Besides, we didn't
have any advance warning of his coming to
stage an attack."
Explosions were heard across Hua
Maekham, Mae Fah Luang District,
Chiangrai province, west of the SSA's Loi Kawwan
base, also this
morning. "That wasn't us
either," he said. "The only thing we know is
that a fight was taking place
between (Tachilek-based) Light Infantry
Battalion 359 and an unidentified armed
force."
He thought it would take some time to find out what
was happening.
"Maybe someone wants an excuse to whip up a new war
along the border,"
he ventured.
The Burma Army and Col. Yawdserk's
Shan State Army have already fought
three battles on the border since
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
came into power, the third one in
May-June, 2002. Since then, the
SSA,together
with its allies, the Karen National Union and Karenni
National Progressive Party, have been pressured to behave
themselves and
not fightunless
attacked.
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Land confiscation for
Burmese Army for border security
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Independent Mon News Agency
A Burmese Army military battalion based in
southern Thai-Burma border town)
put a signboard on which was written
"Armed Force's Land" in Ywa-Thit
village, about three kilometers west of
the town, in order to deploy a new
army base for firm control in the
border area.
"Some soldiers recently came to the village and
seized the land in
November without paying compensation to landowners from the
village,"
Min Thit
Swe reported.
The military seized about 300 acres of land near Ywa Thit on the
instructions of Lt. Col. Aye Cho, commander of IB No.93, which is based
in Three Pagoda Pass.
Min Thit Swe said, "The
purpose of the Burmese Army, putting more army
bases in southern
That Swe said.
Ten artillery battalions are also deployed in the high
mountains that
can look over the Thai -
are along the main roads in
"The Burmese Army also planned for artillery
battalion in this new
seized land, on the
is near the village in the border
area. The Army also seized three
square kilometers of land in Kyaw-haplu village in
Township on Oct. 6 for another army base.
The Burmese Army was to deploy
two newmilitary
bases in this township in 2004.
In previous years, the Burmese Army deployed one artillery
battalion
with modern equipment on the Three
Pagoda Pass-Thanpyuzayat motor road
which is 70 miles long and connects
the border and a town in
The Burmese Army also increased military operations against
Mon and
Karen ethnic rebels in the
control.
"The people did not find that border security plan
directly affecting
the two countries, but it just
affects ethnic armed groups and the
villagers who lost their land and
are forced to work on the new army
base," Min Thit
Swe said.
"We did not make any complaint to the army for
compensation of our land
although there are many landowners
who lost land and got no compensation
from the army," a villager
from Ywa Thit said.
"If we make a complaint, we get zero. What are we going
to do? Just keep
our mouths shut," the villager
added.
Like in Ywa Thit
village, many villagers in
lost their land after confiscation
have faced serious difficulty in
their livelihood and many of them
fled to
*****End*******
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Burma News International is a network of nine exiled media
groups
such as Mizzima
News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao Wao News Group,
Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press
Network,
Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information
Network Group and Network Media Group.
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