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Wired News on Feb. 8 & 9, '95



Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on February 8 & 9, 1995
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Burma forestry minister urges wildlife protection   

    RANGOON, Feb 8 (Reuter) - Burma's forestry minister has warned that
scores of species of wildlife are endangered and said priority must be given
to environmental protection, particularly forest conservation, if they are to
survive. 

    Lieutenant-General Chit Swe, quoted in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper
on Wednesday, said 45 species of mammals, 39 types of birds and 36 reptiles
are regarded as endangered in Burma. 

    He said some of the species could be found only in Burma, making their
survival of global significance. 

    Almost 130,000 square miles (336,700 square km) of forest cover remain in
the country, he said, adding that well-balanced measures were being taken to
conserve and develop forest resources. 

    There are 17 forest and wildlife sanctuaries in various parts of the
country. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-08 06:22:05 EST
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Guerrillas report heavy Burmese troop losses   

    MAE SOT, Thailand, Feb 9 (Reuter) - Burmese soldiers fighting Karen
ethnic minority rebels at the Karen National Union's (KNU) last major
stronghold at Kawmoora have suffered heavy losses, a guerrilla source said on
Thursday. 

    The source on the Thai/Burmese border told Reuters the Karen found the
bodies of 50 Burmese soldiers at the defence line of the camp after a battle
on Wednesday, and seized about 40 G-3 and G-4 rifles. Fighting eased on
Thursday. 

    He said the soldiers were apparently killed during a small-arms exchange
when they were trapped on the front line, at the bottleneck formed by a loop
of the Moei river which marks the border between Thailand and Burma. 

    ``We believed that at least 80 Burmese soldiers were killed during the
small-arms clash yesterday but their comrades managed to drag some of the
bodies away,'' he said. 

    The Karen source said his side lost three dead and two wounded. 

    A Thai official who monitored the fighting on the west bank of the river
confirmed the Burmese army's heavy loss but refused to give details. 

    Thai soldiers based nearby said Burmese troops on Wednesday pounded the
well-fortified Kawmoora camp with more than 800 mortar bombs but fighting
died down on Thursday. Rebel sources said troops were probably rethinking
tactics. 

    The Burmese army had sent more than 3,000 troops, including about 300
members of the Democratic Kaying (Karen) Buddhist Army (DKBA), to attack the
KNU's last major stronghold at Kawmoora. About 1,000 guerrillas have been
defending their camp since early last week. 

    The DKBA is the armed wing of the Democratic Kaying Buddhist
Organisation, a group of Buddhist Karen rebels who staged a mutiny against
the Christian-dominated KNU leadership last December. 

    They defected to join the government and have spearheaded fighting
against the KNU ever since. 

    The KNU is the strongest among the ethnic minority rebels who have been
fighting for autonomy from Rangoon since 1949, when Burma gained independence
from Britain. 

    Troops overran their headquarters at Manerplaw in northeastern Burma last
month and nearly 10,000 Karen refugees fled to Thailand. 

    The Kawmoora attack is the heaviest fighting since April 1992 when the
Burmese junta suspended its attacks on the ethnic minority rebels and offered
peace talks. Thirteen armed rebel groups have reached peace agreements. 

    The KNU was about to do likewise until the mutiny in its ranks in
December. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-09 04:50:48 EST
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U.N. envoys leave Burma after meeting officials   

    BANGKOK, Feb 9 (Reuter) - United Nations envoys have left Burma after
meeting officials from the Southeast Asian country, currently engaged in an
army offensive against ethnic minority guerrillas. 

    Burmese state television, monitored in Bangkok late on Wednesday, said
assistant U.N. Secretary general Alvaro de Soto and other U.N. officials had
left the country after being briefed by Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, the
military intelligence chief for Burma's ruling military body, the State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). 

    The television broadcast said Khin Nyunt briefed the U.N. officials on
``measures taken for bringing about a peaceful modern and developed nation,
emergence of a firm and enduring state constitution and constitutional
government and endeavours being made for national reconciliation and
development of national races of border areas.'' 

    The television said the U.N. envoys also met Burma's Foreign Minister Ohn
Gyaw. 

    The U.N. team arrived in Burma on Sunday amid international concern over
a Burmese army offensive against ethnic guerillas which has sent refugees
fleeing over the border to Thailand. 

    Government troops overran the Karen rebel headquarters at Manerplaw in
southeastern Burma on January 27 and have since been attacking the
guerrillas' remaining strongholds. 

    The SLORC has been largely shunned by the world community for its
crushing of a democracy uprising in 1988 that left many dead, and for holding
National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest in
Rangoon since July 1989. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-09 02:14:35 EST
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Burmese said to prepare new assault on Karen base   

    By Robert Birsel 

    MAE SOT, Thailand, Feb 10 (Reuter) - Battered Burmese forces are bringing
in reinforcements and more ammunition in preparation for another assault on
the last major Karen rebel border stronghold, a Thai army commander said on
Friday. 

    The Burmese army suffered heavy losses when their troops attacked the
well-fortified Karen base of Kawmoora on Wednesday but they appear determined
to capture the base at any cost, said Colonel Direk Yeamngarmrieb. 

    ``They're replacing their troops, bringing in reinforcements. They'll hit
it again very soon,'' he told reporters. 

    Direk estimated 50 Burmese soldiers were killed and another 50 wounded in
a frontal attack on Kawmoora on Wednesday. He said Karen casualties were
minor. 

    With the capture of the Karen's Manerplaw headquarters on January 27,
Kawmoora, on a horse-shoe-shaped loop in the Moei river which forms the
border with Thailand, is the last major guerrilla stronghold on the
Thai-Burmese frontier. 

    The base, 15 km (10 miles) north of the Thai town of Mae Sot, was under
fire again on Friday. Thai officers said one mortar bomb or shell landed
every few minutes as government forces tried to wear down the guerrillas
while preparing another attack. 

    Burmese forces fired more tham 1,000 rounds into the base on Wednesday,
the heaviest attack on the camp in years, they said. 

    About 150 rounds landed on the Thai side of the border during the assault
and Thai forces, who say they are determined to keep the confict off Thai
soil, fired warning smoke shells and later live rounds towards Burmese
positions. 

    A unit of 50 Burmese soldiers attempted to wade across the Moei river to
double back through Thai territory and attack Kawmoora from its more
vulnerable rear. 

    They were forced back by fire from both the guerrillas in their base and
Thai forces, Thai officers said. 

    Karen leaders say Kawmoora has little strategic value but is an important
and highly visible symbol of their 46-year fight for greater autonomy in a
federal Burma. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-02-10 03:45:36 EST
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