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AP: MANARPLAW FALLS





AP 27 Jan 95 5:10 EST V0150

Copyright 1995. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

   BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Burmese soldiers won a key battle Friday against
one of the world's oldest insurgencies, capturing the base of Burma's largest
rebel army and scattering its fighters into the jungle.
   The ethnic Karen rebels, who have fought for autonomy since 1948, are
allied with opposition groups who declared their own government after Burma's
military rulers crushed a pro-democracy movement in 1988.
   About 1,000 guerrillas retreated after the army captured Karen headquarters
at Manerplaw, a rebel official told The Associated Press, speaking on
condition of anonymity. The Karens have about 4,000 troops.
   Manerplaw is near the border with Thailand in the Burmese jungle, about 150
miles east of the capital, Rangoon. The rebels used it since the 1970s.
   There was no immediate announcement from Burma's government.
   The rebel official said morale remained high among the guerrillas, and they
planned to leave the border area -- now saturated with Burmese troops -- and
stage hit-and-run attacks in Burma's interior.
   The government offensive has forced as many as 10,000 refugees across the
border into Thailand, said Sen Aung, an official of the opposition National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
   "The situation is critical," he said. "However, we will continue our
struggle for democracy and human rights."
   The United States called on Burma's military rulers, who have refused to
give up power despite losing a 1990 election, to settle their conflict with
the rebels peacefully.
   "We call on the Burmese government to respect the human rights of all its
citizens," State Department spokeswoman Christine Shelly said Thursday in
Washington.
   The U.S. statement was unlikely to have any impact on the offensive because
Washington has hostile relations with the military junta and has been trying
to isolate it internationally.
   Burma has spent $1.5 billion on buying arms and ammunition from China over
the past two years.


AP Online

AP 26 Jan 95 20:07 EST V0938

Copyright 1995. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- The government has freed 47 political prisoners, the
latest in a three-year string of releases of those jailed for opposing Burma's
military junta.
   The releases Thursday bring to 2,109 the number of political prisoners
released since April 1992, state radio and television reports said.
   The reports didn't identify those released. The junta crushed a
pro-democracy uprising in 1988, and this week launched an offensive against
ethnic Karen rebels fighting for autonomy from Rangoon.
   Burma's most famous political prisoner, opposition leader Aung San Suu, has
been held under house arrest since 1989. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in
1991.



AP Online

AP 27 Jan 95 17:39 EST V0458

Copyright 1995. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

   BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- In a serious setback for Burma's opposition
movement, government troops captured the last rebel stronghold in one of the
world's oldest insurgencies Friday.
   Ethnic Karen rebels said they abandoned their headquarters in the southeast
Burma jungle following hours of artillery and small-arms fire by 15,000
Burmese troops. The number of casualties was not known.
   The attack forced up to 10,000 refugees across the border into Thailand,
said Sen Aung, a spokesman for the National Coalition Government of the Union
of Burma, an opposition group. Most of the rebels also reportedly fled to
Thailand.
   With 4,000 troops, the Karen are the largest and most important rebel group
in Burma. They are allied with opposition groups that declared their own
government after Burma's military rulers crushed a pro-democracy movement in
1988.
   The Karen have been fighting for greater autonomy since Burma won
independence from Britain in 1948.
The Karen National Union, the rebels' political wing, said the last 1,000
fighters abandoned their Manerplaw headquarters early Friday.
   The rebels set fire to the camp Thursday after evacuating thousands of
civilians from their bamboo and thatch homes.
   In Washington, the State Department warned Burma's military junta that the
fighting could further damage relations with the United States.
   Relations have been hostile since the military junta refused to relinquish
power after losing the 1990 election to the opposition party of Aung San Suu
Kyi. Mrs. Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is in her sixth year
of house arrest in Rangoon.
   In Rangoon, government military sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity, confirmed the rebel base had fallen. But they said it had been
taken over by a breakaway Buddhist faction of the Karen backed by Burmese
troops.
   A Karen rebel official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said morale
remained high among the guerrillas. He said they planned to leave the border
area -- now saturated with Burmese troops -- and stage hit-and-run attacks in
Burma's interior.
   The offensive came three years after Burma declared a unilateral cease-fire
to persuade the dozen or so ethnic minority rebel groups to lay down their
arms. Most have done so.
   The Karen offered late last year to negotiate an end to the war but were
rebuffed. Rangoon began moving in on Manerplaw in December.