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BurmaNet News 27th April #158




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The BurmaNet News: 27 APRIL 1995
Issue #158
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NOTED IN PASSING:

Contents:
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THE NATION: Army "furious" over frontier incursions
THE NATION: Burmese foreign exchange rate triggers ADB concern
BKK POST:   Burmese to be sent home as battles eases

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(at titan.oit.umass.edu)        (From News system)

Are there any MON people out there?
I am very interested in knowing my fellow Mon-Khmer people.


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Army "furious" over frontier incursions
27.4.95/The Nation

CHIANG MAI - The Army yesterday expressed outrage over
repeated territorial violations by armed Karen intruders
following the latest attacks on Karen refugee camps in Tak and
Mae Hong Song provinces on Tuesday.

But Army Commander -in Chief Gen Wilmol Wongwanich, who
visited the camps yesterday to observe the border situation,
said the Army would not resort to violent retaliation.

He proposed that a safe area be found deeper inside Thailand
for the Karen refugees to prevent easy access by the
intruders.

Third Army Region Commander Lt Gen Surachet Dechatiwong
yesterday said he and all other Army leaders were "extremely
furious" over the "frequent violations of Thai sovereignty".

He said the Third Army Region, which was responsible for the
security of the North, including the areas involved, would
assert "more preventive measures" to cope with the problem.

Security forces on the long border with Burma would be further
reinforced, he said, but did not disclose the number of
troops to be deployed in the operation.

According to Thai border and Karen refugee sources, 150-200
armed troops of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army [DKBA]
crossed the Salween River about 1 pm on Tuesday and went into
Mae Rama Luang camp in Sob Moei district of Mae Hong Song.
The camp was holding about 5,000 refugees.

The intruders attacked and fired upon the refugees and also
burnt down two of the seven sections of the camp, forcing
several hundreds of "frightened refugees" to flee into the
jungle. At least two elderly people were caught and killed in
the fire, said the Karen sources.

The sources said they could not confirm the exact number of
the people missing or the casualties. The DKBA also clashed
with local refugee security guards, they said. At least four
were injured and were sent to Mae Sariang hospital for medical
treatment.

Both Thai and Karen sources confirmed that several hundred
refugees were "forced at gunpoint to cross the Salween River
back into Burma".

The other incident took place around midnight when an unknown
number of DKBA forces crossed the Moei River into Kamawlaeko,
a border camp in Tha Song Yang district in  Tak housing about
3,000 refugees, and burned down about 300 houses, according
to the sources. 

The sources said they could not confirm the number of refugee
casualties nor of the number of hostages taken back to Burma
by the intruders. Karen sources said the estimated 70,000
refugees were now living in constant fear of jeopardy and
harassment by the DKBA and Burmese troops, who they said
often accompanied the Karen intruders into the camps.

Tuesday's intrusions occurred only two days after clashes on
Sunday between about 200 Burmese and Karen intruders and local
Karen refugee security forces guarding two refugee villages in
Tak's Tha Song Yang district.

The violence of the past few days forced Army chief Wimol to
pay an urgent fact-finding visit to border areas and the
refugee camps yesterday.

Wimol, who was accompanied by Third Army Region Commander
Surachet, was also given a briefing at the headquarters of the
Task Force 34 in Tak's Mae Sot district and Task Force 35 in
Mae Hong Son's Mae Sariang district.

Speaking in Chiang Mai after the trip, Wimol said the armed
intruders were "outlaws" who often inflicted problems on
Thailand and the Thai people.

"Whenever there is fighting, Thailand and the Thai people
are often affected by the spill over, and sometimes narcotics
are also involved. They also affect bilateral Thai-Burmese
relations which need a long period of time to establish", he
said.

Wimol said he planned to propose to the Interior Ministry that
a new camp be opened to house all  the Karen refugees, who
were scattered in numerous shelters "I will consult the
Interior Ministry on the point that these people [refugees]
are creating a lot of problems and placing burdens on the Thai
people, and that they should all be moved to a new refugee
camp where they can stay together", he said.

Surachet said yesterday he would raise the matter of
sovereignty and territorial violations with a 25 member
Burmese delegations, led by Burma's southeastern commander
Maj Gen Ket Sein, which was currently in Thailand for the
11th meeting of the Thai-Burmese Regional Border Committee.

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Burmese foreign exchange rate triggers ADB concern.

Rangoon - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has expressed
concern that the realistic Burmese foreign exchange rate has
made it difficult for it to play an active role in financing
loans to Burma, a senior officer said yesterday.

Noritada Morita, director of the ADB's Programme Department
(West), said the Bank's lending policy was not based on "human
rights" records, but purely on economic guidelines.

When we lend money to a government, the crucial issue [we look
at] is the foreign exchange rate, Morita said. "As long as the
ADB's charter is concerned, our consideration should be based
only on the economic aspect".

Most Western countries have stopped aid to Burma after the
pro-democracy movement in 1988 was crushed.

Morita said the ADB's last loan to Burma was in 1988 whereas
previously, the bank has supplied an average of US$ 40-50
million per project to the Burmese government. Burma has to
have a market-based foreign exchange rate in order to receive
ADB's support. This will enable the bank to calculate the cost
and beneficial returns for funding projects.

"Unless the foreign exchange rate is on the international
market's "demand and supply" list, we really cannot assess the
financial and economic feasibility of the projects. We can not
calculate whether the projects are likely to be profitable",
Morita said.

Current official foreign exchange rate in Burma is that of one
dollar to six kyat, while it trades at 100 kyat in the black
market.

Morita said the ADB and the international community on various
occasions have raised the issue with the Burmese government.

Meanwhile, Brig Gen David Abel, Burma's Minister of National
Planning and Economic Development, said Burma has successfully
sought funding totalling USS 500 million to help implement the
Yandana natural gas project. But he refused to reveal the
source of the funding.

As for the Salween hydropower scheme, Abel said the project is
still at square one.


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Burmese to be sent home as battles eases
BKK Post/ APRIL 26

A Joint Thai-Burmese Border Committee has agreed for the first
time to repatriate Burmese refugees detained in Ranong
province to Victoria Point in the next few days.

Chairman of the committee Lt Gen Surachet Dechatiwong told the
reporters the repatriation would only be approved in areas
where the situation returned to normal to make sure refugees
are safe. The Committee chose to send the refugees in Ranong
because the fighting has ceased across the border.

But uncertainty opposite Mae Sot District in Tak has prompted
authorities to halt a plan to repatriate refugees in the
province. A survey showed there are more than 53,000 Burmese
refugees in Tak.

Lt Gen Surachet said the Army still has to increase patrols
along the border area in Tak. The Committee has not yet
discussed details of a plan to reopen border passes, he said.


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NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
 ABSDF-DNA: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT [DR. NAING AUNG]
 ABSDF-MTZ: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT [MOE THEE ZUN] 
 AMNESTY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
 AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
 AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
 AW: ASIAWEEK
 Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX),
 BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
 BF: BURMA FORUM
 BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI
 BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN
 CPPSM:C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND
 FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
 GOA: GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA
 IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
 KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
 KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION
 Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET
                   106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL
                   6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL
 MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
 MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC)
 THE NATION: A DAILY NEWSPAPER IN BANGKOK
 NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA
 NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER,RANGOON)
 NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY
 RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP
 RTG: ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT
 SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
 SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
 SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
 SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL
 TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
 UPI: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
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 XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
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