Wired News on March 1 & 2, '95

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on March 1 & 2, 1995
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      MAE SOT, Thailand, March 2 (Reuter) - A senior Karen guerrilla official
was seized at gunpoint from a Thai refugee camp and taken back into
government-held Burma, Thai police said on Thursday. 

    They said the official was seized late on Wednesday by about 30 members
of a rebel splinter faction of the Karen National Union (KNU). 

    Two refugees were shot and seriously wounded when they tried to stop the
gunmen entering the camp to take the official, Ba Nyunt, police said. 

    Relief workers say the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) splinter
group has launched a campaign of fear against the more than 60,000 Karen
refugees in Thailand in an attempt to force them back to Burma and undermine
support for the Karen guerrilla group. 

    It was the second time in a month that members of the DKBA have seized a
senior guerrilla official. 

    A band of DKBA members kidnapped a senior Karen civilian leader on
February 9 and forced the official and two others back into a government-held
area of Burma. 

    While the motive for the kidnappings was not known, Karen officials
speculated the Burmese government wanted to pressure the seized officials to
join them and then appeal to the refugees in Thailand to go back to Burma. 

    Thailand lodged a complaint with Burma over the first incident, saying
the displaced Karen are Thailand's responsibility while they remain on this
side of the border. 

    The raiders on Wednesday ordered the camp inhabitants to return to Burma
within a week or face more violence, a Karen refugee official said. 

    The official said Burmese soldiers accompanied the DKBA members on the
raid. 

    The splinter group is made up of rank-and-file Buddhist fighters who
rebelled against the mostly Christian KNU leadership in December and joined
Burmese government forces. 

    Ba Nyunt, a Buddhist, was previously the KNU's civilian governor in the
Hlaing Bwe district of southeastern Burma. 

    He had been staying at the refugee camp in Thailand since Burmese forces
launched an offensive against the autonomy-seeking geurrillas in December. 

    Last week, a Thai driver and two women refugees were shot and killed when
suspected DKBA members ambushed them as they were moving from a camp on the
border to a new one deeper in Thailand. 

    The refugees were moving camp because DKBA members had earlier fired
several shells into their old settlement. 

    The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in a
statement this week that it was gravely concerned for the safety of Karen
refugees in Thai camps. 

    A Thai army commander stationed on the border said on Thursday he had
ordered his men to take tough action if they intercepted any DKBA members on
Thai soil. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-03-02 08:11:31 EST
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      MAE SOT, Thailand, March 1 (Reuter) - At least two people were killed
and more than 10 injured when Karen guerrillas attacked a Burmese army
staging post on a road in southeastern Burma, Burmese traders said on
Wednesday. 

    The attack was believed to be one of the largest since the guerrillas
lost their last major base on the Thai-Burmese border on February 21. 

    The traders, arriving in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said two
civilians were killed by guerrilla mortar bombs at the crowded staging area
of Leapoto village, 30 km (20 miles) west of the Burmese border town of
Myawadi. 

    Burmese government forces launched an offensive against the
autonomy-seeking Karen National Union in December. 

    The rebels were forced to abandon their headquarters at Manerplaw on
January 27 and their last major stronghold at Kawmoora less than a month
later. 

    Karen commanders said they would now stick to mobile guerrilla tactics
and would no longer attempt to defend fixed positions. 

    A Thai army source based on the border said Burmese commanders were
withdrawing some of their forces from the Kawmoora area and appeared to be
heading for a guerrilla-controlled zone to the south. 

 REUTER


Transmitted: 95-03-01 08:18:42 EST
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