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BurmaNet News: July 4, 1995 [#193]





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The BurmaNet News: July 4, 1995
Issue #193

PEN: BARBARA GOLDSMITH AWARD TO SAN SAN NWEH
KNPP: ON VIOLATION OF THE CEASE FIRE
NATION: THAILAND OPENS BORDER TO BURMA
NATION: NO PARENTS, NO HOME - WHAT FUTURE?
NATION: MAINLINE TO AN EPIDEMIC
ABSDF-MTZ:  FIGHTING AGAIN IN KNLA BRIGADE 4 AREA
NATION: SLORC, KARENNI BATTLE AS CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES
NATION: QUAKE HITS BURMA
HRDU:  SLORC COMMENCES ATTACKS ON KARENNI POSITIONS DESPITE CEASE-FIRE
          AGREEMENT
NATION: LIP SERVICE ALONE TO THE BURMESE STRUGGLE WILL NOT SUFFICE
ABSL:  REQUEST FOR THE FREEDOM OF DETAINED BURMESE STUDENTS
SLORC: MONS RETURN TO THE LEGAL FOLD
KNPP: STATEMENT ON 30/6/95
NATION: BURMA DECLARES SECTION OF TERRITORIAL WATERS OFF-LIMIT
SEASIA-: COPIES OF BURMA PEACE AGREEMENTS NEEDED
NATION: BURMA DECLARES SECTION OF TERRITORIAL WATERS OFF-LIMIT
NCGUB: STATEMENT REGARDING VIOLATION OF KARENNI CEASEFIRE BY SLORC
NATION: BURMESE-KARENNI FIGHTING DISLOCATES 3,000
NATION: 1,000 SENT FLEEING AS BURMESE ARMY CONTINUES OFFENSIVE
NATION/KYODO: MON PEACE PACT MAY SPARK HUNT FOR WAR TREASURE CACHE
VOA: BURMA CENSURED 


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PEN: BARBARA GOLDSMITH AWARDS: SAN SAN NWEH

Title: PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Awards: San San Nweh, Yndamiro
Restano 95

PEN/BARBARA GOLDSMITH FREEDOM-TO-WRITE AWARD April 1995

        A few of us writers of realistic fiction keep trying to
        reflect present-day life in our work; we use subtle,
        indirect means, so that the people's cries of longing,
        their unbearable sufferings, can be just faintly heard,
        just dimly perceived.
                                                   --San San Nweh

SAN SAN NWEH, 49, was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment in
Burma for "spreading information injurious to the state" and
"giving one-sided views" to foreign reporters.  The reason
underlying her imprisonment is her active support for Aung San Suu
Kyi, the Nobel laureate whose party won a landslide victory in the
1990 elections but who is held under house arrest by the military
government.  San San Nweh is the author of Prison of Darkness, a
novel, and many other works of fiction and nonfiction.  She is due
for release in 2004.  Her 21-year-old daughter is also imprisoned,
and her family has no means of support while its two main
breadwinners are in captivity.

        *****
           
KNPP: ON VIOLATION OF THE CEASE FIRE
STATEMENT

                        THE GOVERNMENT OF KARENNI


       Statement regarding SLORC's military activities in Karenni
      -----------------------------------------------------------
                   following the cease-fire agreement
                   -----------------------------------


After a series of talk KNPP and SlORC agreed to a cease-fire and
a ceremony was held in Loikaw on March 21, to mark and solemnize
the cease-fire agreement.

KNPP had made it known that it agreed to the cease-fire because
SLORC had agreed to the 16 points it had put forward.

Among the 16 points agreed upon are-

-that the present military status quo in both SLORC designated
and KNPP designated area areas be maintained.
-that there be a stop to portering in the whole of Karenni.
-that there be no more collecting of porter fees in Karenni.

In spite of the agreement, SlORC on June 15, started collecting
porter fees in SLORC designated areas. It started rounding up
porters, horses and tractors.

On June 17, two battalions of SLORC troops crossed the Salween
river and moved into KNPP designated areas, one battalion massing
at the confluence of Mae Su Rin stream.

KNPP protested and the answer from the SLORC was that national
election in Thailand was about to take place and that it foresaw
troubles along the border once the election was over. As a
result, it said, it needed to move troops to the border for the
security of the state.

KNPP replied that whatever happen in Thailand would be purely
Thai internal affairs and that it saw no reason for troubles
along the border.

SLORC next said that the Thais were stealing logs and timber
along the border, and the troops that it had moved into KNPP
designated areas were to stop them from doing so, and not to
attack the Karennis. It also said that the Thais had arrested two
of their men and were refusing to release them.

On June 26, the battalion that had been stationed at the
confluence of Mae Su Rin stream moved deeper into KNPP designated
area, and another two battalions crossed the Salween River from
Ywa Tit and moved into KNPP designated area around Mae Su Rin
confluence. It is estimated that SLORC has moved about 2000
troops into KNPP areas.

The fact that SLORC has been collecting porter fees, rounding up
porters and moving troops into KNPP areas is a clear breach of
the cease-fire agreement reached between SLORC and KNPP. All the
reasons given for moving SLORC troops into KNPP areas are simply
fictitious and groundless.  As a matter of fact, SLORC has
pressured KNPP to vacate three border passes where it wants to
garrison its forces- BP(9), BP(11) and BP(12). KNPP has refused
to bow to SLORC's pressure and it is believed SLORC intends to
take these posts by force.

KNPP desires peace. It does not want a resumptions of
hostilities. It deems SLORC hostile activities highly deplorable,
and hopes that SLORC will abide by the agreement reached between
the two parties. On the other hand, KNPP sees it as its duty to
defend itself and its territorial integrity.

Hence, should SLORC continue braking the cease-fire agreement,
and should it refused to withdraw the troops it has moved into
KNPP areas, It will be SLORC, and not KNPP that will have to
assume the responsibility for the outbreak of hostilities.

Karenni is a small nation under siege. It has been fighting for
survival for decades, and will continue doing so in spite of  the
heavy odds against it. If SLORC should use its military might to
attack Karenni - which KNPP believe it well- KNPP expects and
requests all sympathetic and democratic forces the world over to
extend humanitarian assistance to the Karenni people.



June 28, 1995

                                                   (signed here)
                                                   Aung Than Lay
                                                   Prime Minister




NATION: THAILAND OPENS BORDER TO BURMA
The Nation/30.6.95

CHIANG RAI- Several months after the frontier was closed
following the killing of a Thai citizen by Burmese troops,
Thailand yesterday unilaterally re-opened two temporary crossing
in this northern province to cross-border travel and trade.

Chiang Rai governor and Khamron Booncherd said he had requested
permission from the Interior Ministry to reopen five checkpoints
in Mae Sai district, but had decided to test the security climate
first by opening only two, at Bann Sailomjoy and Baan Krawsai

Khamron warned local people intending to cross onto Burma's
Tachilek town to do so with prudence, to take care of their own
safety and property, as the Burmese had not officially endorsed
the re-opening on their side.

If they are not sure of the situation, they should not cross the
border because the Burmese authorities have not yet officially
announced the reopening of the temporary crossing.

"They permit only the interim [unofficial] passing," said the
governor.

He stressed that only goods that were not restricted under the
customs laws would be allowed to cross into Burma and that all
people and vehicles travelling to Tachilek would have to adhere
strictly to immigration laws.

Most important of all, I have told [Thai authorities] to be
especially alert for weapons, drugs and illegal immigrants
because that is a matter of national security," said Khamron.

He added that he was only interested in Mae Sai's economy, local
tourism and international humanitarian principles, and did not
know if the Burmese decision to close down the official Tachilek-
Mae Sai permanent checkpoint was a political matter.

The Tachilek side of the checkpoint has been closed since opium
warlord Khun Sa's forces launched a dawn attack on this town
early this year.

Although a number of unofficial temporary checkpoints remained
open afterwards, the governor decided to seal the whole border
after Burmese troops shot and killed a fleeing Thai local who
crossed the Sai River into Tachilek.

Khamron he decided to open the crossings at Baan Sailomjoy and
Baan Krawsai because they were closed to Mae Sai town and people
used them more than the other checkpoints.


THE NATION: MAINLINE TO AN EPIDEMIC
on 30/6/95(Part 3)

Mainline to an epidemic
The Nation/30.6.95

           Andrew Nette on Burma's role in the proliferation
                        of intravenous drug use.

While Burma's position as one of the main narcotics producing
nations in the world is well known, less documented has been an
export of a different kind the shift from smoking to intravenous
drug use.

Experts say this is facilitating the spread of HIV/Aids among
neighbouring countries already struggling to deal with the impact
of the disease.

"Historically speaking, the shift from smoking to injection drug
use could not have come at a worse time in terms of HIV/Aids
transmission in the sub-region," said one foreign NGO worker
involved in the anti-Aids campaign in Vietnam. "As it is, the
disease is increasing rapidly this just makes it worse."

Although the Burma's National Committee for the Control of Aids
has identified only 8,191 cases if HIV infection and 334 persons
with full-blown Aids, the World Health Organization believes that
haphazard testing and government secrecy means this figure
represents only a fraction of the real total.

WHO says approximately 400,000 people - almost one per cent of
the current population - could have the disease, on a per capita
basic far surpassing infection rates in India and Thailand, the
two Asian countries considered worst hit by the disease.

While drug use is not the only factor associated with the
disease, it is one of the most prominent. Foreign sources
familiar with the situation believe that Burma's Aids crisis
originated among the country's large population of injecting drug
users, estimated by the government and police to number
approximately 39,000, but which independent observers say is much
higher.

An HIV/Aids country profile of Burma prepared by the Australian
government in 1994 noted "extraordinarily high rates of HIV
infection among IDUs [injecting drug users] compared with the
rest of the world."

A February 1994 United Nations Drug Control Programme report
quotes Burmese government figures showing HIV prevalence rates
among IDUs varying from 70 per cent to 95 per cent in some areas
of the country.


the UNDCP report maintained that much of the drug use takes place
in communal "shooting galleries", private and semi private venues
where addicts share needles, often with no sterilization
measures, and using a variety of home made equipment to inject
narcotics, including lengths of polythene tube with an attached
needles, drip sets and eye droppers.

The same shift has been detected in China, Vietnam, and to a
small but growing extent in Cambodia. In Vietnam neatly 80 per
cent of the official HIV positive cases are IDUs, and similar
level have been recorded in China's Yunnan province.

Foremost among the factors behind the change have been the
evolving dynamics of the international drug trade over the last
two decades.

in the fifties and sixties, drug use in Burma was restricted
almost completely to the consumption of opium by ethnic minority
people in rural areas. Most of the country's drug crop was
exported to laboratories in Hong Kong, Bangkok and Marseilles for
processing into heroin and sold abroad.

Following increased law enforcement in these countries resulting
in the closure of a number of these refineries, improved
laboratory techniques, and the increased availability of cheap,
chemical, heroin refineries have moved closer to the opium
growing areas, in turn ushering a period of cheap, easily
accessible heroin.

Although foreign observers stress that such reprocessing
facilities to not exist in China or Vietnam, their increasing
significance as transit points for the trafficking of narcotics
has seen the creation of large user groups of their own.

A single dose of heroin in Rangoon costs about Kyat 30 (US$0.30),
cheaper in border areas. In Yunnan, health officials report that
injecting opium is up to one-third the cost of smoking.

Many experts also argue that it is the very law enforcement
tactics adopted by governments to counter the narcotics trade
which have led to the growth of injecting drug use. These put
pressure on addicts to tale drugs in faster and more covert ways,
forcing them underground, where they are more difficult to access
for treatment and Aids prevention education.

This is supported by a numerous studies across the sub-region in
which addicts have said that not only does injecting heroin give
a better hit, but is a faster, less detectable way of consuming
drugs.

As part of its campaign against drug abuse, Chinese Premier Li
Peng signed the "Provision for Compulsary narcotics
Detoxification". This law stipulates that addicts arrested for
drug abuse should be jailed and forced to undergo 3-6 months of
rehabilitation in treatment centres run by the Public Security
Bureau.

In the case of Burma, there is evidence that injecting drug use
has been unwittingly influenced by authorities workers found in
possession of syringes.

Meanwhile, the growth of injecting drug use feeds into factors
which have already made Burma abridge for the spread of the
epidemic.

On the country's Western border is the Indian state of Manipuar
which contains the highest detected rates of drug addiction and
Aids in India. To the east, there is a thriving cross-border
traffic in Burmese women to the sex industry in Thailand.

On the north-west border with southern China's Yunnan province is
Shan state, Burma's main source of narcotics production. Economic
reforms are opening up the previously isolated frontier between
Shan and Yunnan, which has a serious HIV/Aids problems of its
own.

In particular, the tiny town of Ruili in Yunnan, just over the
Burmese border is the entry point for heroin from refineries in
the Golden Triangle en route to markets in East Asia, Australia
and Europe. Approximately two-third of China's recorded cases of
HIV/Aids are in Ruili alone.

Ruili has a permanent population of 100,000 and an additional
40,000 transients - mainly young men working in the booming
construction trade, and Burmese women who come to take advantage
of the town's 24 hour sex industry. NGO workers who have visited
tie town say these people have virtually no knowledge of
HIV/Aids.

****************************************************************

NATION: NO PARENTS, NO HOME - WHAT FUTURE?

        Aung Zaw reports on the plight of Mon children orphaned
              by the fighting that rages in their homeland.

Mehn Chan was nine years old when he became an orphan.

In 1993, he was living in Way Tha li village, Mon state when
government troops clashed with Mon insurgents there. Among the
victims were Mehn Chan's parents, Naing Dok and Daw Hnin May.
Since then, Mehn Chan has stayed with his relatives. But they
could not take care him for long and he was finally taken to the
border camp.

The camps along the border are Bee Rec, Payaw, Prachuab and
Halockhani which were attacked by the Burmese army last year.
There are approximately 6,000 Mon, Karen and Burmese children
staying at the border camps and it is the Mon National Relief
Committee (MNRC) that looks after them now.

At the camps, they are taught Mon and Burmese. There are some Mon
orphans on Thai soil as well. Source at the border said their
ages range from seven to 12. "The children are illegals, and if
the Thai police came and arrested them, they would not be able to
do anything," said a Mon relief worker based at the border. They
have no parents. What will be their future?" he asked.

He also said Slorc troops have not stopped their daily routine of
forced relocation, forced labour and tax extortion, which has
forced more people to flee to the border areas. Mon villagers who
arrived at the camps last year and  this year were conscripted to
work for the railway project. "Between 50 to 100 people come
every month," said the Mon relief worker.

Nevertheless, a few weeks ago representative of the New Mon State
Party (NMSP) met with Slorc members in Moulmein, the capital of
Mon state. Last year, the Mon also held talks with Slorc.

It is believed that the NMSP might soon sign an agreement with
Slorc in the near future. If a ceasefire is agreed upon, the NMSP
would be 15th armed group to have come to terms with Slorc. Thai
sources said Slorc had agreed to let the NMSP administer 19 small
areas of about 10 sq-km each in southeast Burma's Mon state. It
was also reported that Slorc promised to stop the practise of
forced labour in Mon areas. Mon representative also discussed the
refugee situation at the border. It is still uncertain, however,
whether the refugees will be sent back to Burma should the NMSP
forge a ceasefire agreement with Slorc.

Nevertheless, several rebel sources said a ceasefire agreement
with Slorc would be considered "shaky". They said Slorc has
refused to discuss political issues and the problems of the
ethnic minorities. Because of this, their struggle will continue
and the other conflicts will remain unresolved. At present, it is
the Karen National Union (KNU) which has not yet come to terms
with Slorc. But if the Mon does sign a ceasefire agreement with
Slorc, some sources predict that it would only be a matter of
time before the Karen follow suit.

But senior Mon leaders believe that a ceasefire won't guarantee
peace and a permanent solution to the problems besetting Mon
land. To achieve peace in Mon land will e quite difficult, said a
senior Mon official. "There is a long way to go" he stressed. But
some other Mon sources said the Mon rebels are not united on the
signing of a ceasefire agreement with Slorc. Analysts noted that
most ethnic armed groups do not trust Slorc. However, they have
no choice but to deal with the Rangoon generals. The Mon official
put it bluntly. "The general understanding and feeling among them
[ethnic armed groups] is that Slorc has no future."

Correction:
An article published on page A6 last Friday mistakenly stated
that former Burmese army Captain Khin Maung Nyunt graduated from
West Point military academy. In fact, he attended the Defence
Service Academy, often refered to as 'Burma's West Point". His
comments on the Burmese army should have been translated as:
"Tatmadaw is built on orders and command. Burmese soldiers obey
orders," and not: "Never under-estimate the Tatmadaw."





ABSDF-MTZ:  FIGHTING AGAIN IN KNLA BRIGADE 4 AREA

Fighting started again in Minthemee area of KNLA Brigade (4)


On June 24 the fighting started at Tha Byu Chaung village and the
village was burnt down by the Slorc's troops.

800 Slorc troops comprising of IF No(25), LIF No(403), LIF
No(404) and LIF No(405) led by Lt Col Kyi Han has occupied Ka
Htaw Ni village and advancing to Minthemee. 1000 porters are also
included in the offensive by the Slorc.

There is also a Slorc's column at the Taung Thone Lone village
near Myitta village.

It designated to launch an offensive to occupy Minthamee. The
Slorc troops today reached at a place of one day walk from
Minthamee.

ABSDF's battalions are also fighting hand in hand with the
KNLA troops against the Slorc brutal offensive.

Border sources





NATION: SLORC, KARENNI BATTLE AS CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES
on 1.7.95

Slorc, Karenni battle as ceasefire collapses
The Nation/1.7.95

A FULL-SCALE battle erupted yesterday in Burma's Kayah State
following the collapse of a ceasefire agreement between Karenni
rebels and the State Law and Order Restoration Council, Karenni
sources said.

Representatives of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP)
said shooting began around nine in the morning and could well
continue for days.

The bulk of the fighting is said to be taking place on two fronts
approximately 10 to 20 Kilometers from Mae Hong Son province: at
kao kao opposite Khun Yuan district and around Do Mo Sheh across
from northern muang district.

No reports of casualties were available as of yesterday
afternoon.

At least 1,5000 Karenni refugees have fled from a camp at Do Mo
Sheh in Burma to another at Pang Yong in Mae Hong Son, Muang
district, where facilities are said to be inadequate.

Khun Yuan district chief Wittaya Thitisutti confirmed yesterday
afternoon that fighting had broken out.

Wittaya and other Thai officials stressed that this was a Burmese
affair and expressed hope that it would not spill over into
Thailand and affect the elections or tourism in Mae Hong Son.

He said that prior to the fighting, negotiations between Slorc
and the KNPP had been taking place at Huay Namma, 15 km from the
Thai border in kayah State.

"They were discussing the price of timber," Wittaya said.

Slorc's reported anger over Karenni timber sales to Thailand is
thought to be one of the causes for the outbreak of hostilities.

Thai officials says they have always tried to ensure that timber
imports by Thai companies have been approved by Rangoon, but add
that it is often difficult to know who in Burma has the authority
to approve such trade.

Slorc may also be eager to fain a better foothold from which to
attack Khun Sa's forces in Shan State, which borders Kayah State
in the north.

"SLorc's top objectives is to gain a better positions from which
they can fight Khun Sa," Maw Hong Son Governor Somjet
Wiriyadamrong said yesterday.

"Control over natural resources has also a source of conflict
between Slorc and KNPP," he added.

Both Thai and Karenni sources estimate that Slorc has sent 3,000
to 4,000 troops into Kayah State.

Karenni officials say they have at most 1,000 soldiers ar their
disposal.


*****************************************************************


NATION: QUAKE HITS BURMA
The Nation/1.7.95
Local/regional news

AN EARTHQUAKE measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit northeastern
Burma on yesterday morning, a Thai meteoro-logical department
official said.

The epicentre of the quake was a thinly populated area of
northeastern Burma's Shan State 350 kms north of Chiang Mai. It
struck at 6.04 am local time, said the official.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. Tremors were
detected for several hours after the quake struck, he said_
Reuter.



HRDU:  SLORC COMMENCES ATTACKS ON KARENNI POSITIONS DESPITE CEASE-FIRE
          AGREEMENT
Human Rights Documentation Unit


Mae Hong Son, June 30  -- According to ethnic and student sources in the
Thai border town of Mae Hong  Son, the SLORC has launched a new military
offensive against the Karenni National Progressive Party,  KNPP,
ordering a force estimated to be over 4,000 strong to march on the KNPP
headquarters and an area  where ABSDF students are taking refuge.

Fighting broke out at 9:00 am today when Karenni forces opened fire on
the advancing SLORC troops who had repeatedly ignored calls to respect
the terms of the recent "gentleman's agreement" for a ceasefire that
bound both sides to respect territories held by the two sides.

According to the sources three columns of SLORC troops are advancing on
the three most important and sensitive areas in the Karenni controlled
territories on the eastern bank of the Salween River. These are widely
separated and include  Mae Surin, Mae Yu and Tanakwei which are near the
organisational centres  for the ethnic and student opposition groups.

The latest move is viewed by the Karenni as a blatant breach of the
cease-fire agreement that it had
concluded with the SLORC on March 21, 1995. The KNPP has mobilised its
forces to take up defensive
positions and has begun evacuating its civilians to refugee settlements
in Thailand. According to reports  from Mae Hong Son, ABSDF members have
also made necessary preparations to defend themselves.

On June 21-22 KNPP officials met with Brigadier General Maung Kyi, chief
of the Karenni State Law and  Order Restoration Council and other army
officers in Loikaw to resolve the problems and to discuss local
development programmes.  At the talks the Karenni protested incursions
into Karenni territory by SLORC troops, the continued seizure of
civilians for forced labour as porters for army troops and the
collection of porter fees from the regional populace which directly
contravened the terms of the ceasefire agreement. According to the
Karenni, SLORC officials had pressured them to vacate three key border
passes in the heart of the KNPP designated area so that they could
station their troops there "to prevent illegal logging"  by Thais.

The demands from the SLORC officials ignored key provisions in the
cease-fire agreement, one of which is that the SLORC troops would not
cross the Salween into KNPP designated territory. The KNPP refused to
accept the SLORC's demands, and even as the talks were being held SLORC
troops continued the forced conscription of porters from the Loikaw
area. The talks broke off on June 23 without any agreement.

The resumption of fighting between the Karenni and SLORC forces
ironically comes the day following the long awaited ceasefire between
the SLORC and the New Mon State Party, an allied ethnic group whose
territories lie several hundred kilometers to the south.

HRDU.  June 30, 1995



NATION: LIP SERVICE ALONE TO THE BURMESE STRUGGLE WILL NOT SUFFICE
The Nation/EDITORIAL/28.6.95

               Yindee Lertcharoenchok on the direction of
                            the new US policy
                             towards Burma.


It will be interesting to watch in coming weeks when US president
Bill Clinton will have to make a final official decision on the
direction of the new US policy towards Burma.

For the past two years endless debates and meetings among various
inter- and intra-government agencies took place in an attempt to
form an underlying unitary US position towards the Southeast
Asian nation, in which the US has had little interest
politically, economically and strategically.

The United States is torn between its own global moral
responsibility of advocating human rights and democracy in Third
world countries on one hand and the protection of American
citizens from the alarming danger of soaring illicit drug use and
narcotic-related violence at home on the other. The result of
this tug-of-war is indecisiveness.

The US Department of State, the proponent of the former, has been
calling for a cooling of relations, if not a tougher stance,
against the military junta in Rangoon which has since 1988 defied
successfully domestic and international pressure to transfer
power to a democratic elected government.

State Department officials have been assuring the Burmese
opposition that the Clinton Administration would not sacrifices
democracy and human rights as its prime objective in foreign
policy and relations with Burma. However, Washington often
defends US investment in the country as that of the private
sector which the government has no control over.

But the US drug enforcement Administration(DEA), the government
crucial arm in combatting narcotics at home and abroad, has
become increasingly more restless and impatient with the
disclosure that heroin production in Burma has hit new records .
Also as a result of this, there has been a subsequent sharp
increase of the drug being smuggled into the United States. High
purity heroin is now cheaply available in the US.

It has strongly urged that unless Washington engages the ruling
Burmese State law and Order Restoration Council(Slorc) in regular
dialogues and cooperation, and resumes it anti-narcotic aid to
Burma which was stopped in September 1988 following the
military's violent suppression of the pro-democracy movement, the
US "war on drugs" will not be successful.

DEA officers and some US Congressmen  have been calling for the
reinstallation of a US Ambassador to Rangoon where he could
resume full diplomatic responsibility including talks and
cooperation with the Slorc in drug interdiction, suppression of
trafficking and eradication and substitution of opium
cultivation. They defended that the extension of cooperation in
combatting drugs and the exercise of the strong support for human
rights can go together.

"I am asking you to please extend the hand of cooperation and not
use human rights excuse to sever relationships that could cause
the stoppage of hundreds of tons [of heroin]," said Republican
Congressman Charles Rangel during a hearing last week on Drugs in
Asia at the Congress House Committee on International Relations
and subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

According to the State Department's annual International
Narcotics Control Strategy report released in March, Burma has,
since 1989, become the world's largest producer of opium and
heroin, providing over 50 per cent of known global illicit
output. Net opium production yielded an estimated 2,030 metric
tons in 1994, down from 2,575 tons in 1993. The 21 per cent fall
was due principally to poor weather. Burma is accountable for
about 60 per cent of the heroin smuggled into the United States.

The drastic switch last July of many western countries -
Australia, Canada, and the European Union - from the policy of
tough pressure and isolation to softer approach of engaging Burma
in dialogues as a means to encourage political changes had caught
the US Government completely off guard. The US was left as the
sole country that still adhered to the hard stance against the
Slorc.

To cope with the dilemma, Washington has devised a new approach
called a "two-track policy" which was first introduced in
November after the visit to Burma by senior US official, Thomas
Hubbard who is secretary of State for Asia and the Pacific.
Hubbard and his high-level team were the first members of a
senior US delegation that visited Burma in more than five years.

The US would improve its relations with Burma if there was a
significant positive development in democracy and human rights,
couple with efforts to curb the production of narcotics. On the
contrary if no progress is made in these areas, Washington's ties
with Rangoon would be downscaled, and this message has been made
very clear to the Slorc.

Dr Lee Brown, Clinton's chief drug advisor and policy maker, told
the same hearing in Drugs in Asia on June 21, that his office on
National Drug Control Policy has already completed and submitted
to the US President a new global heroin strategy, in which he
suggested and recommended a range of comprehensive approaches in
attacking the narcotic menace.

According to Brown, the international strategy has four major
goals. First, expending and intensifying contact with foreign
leaders to mobilize greater international cooperation against the
threat of heroin. Second. dismantling the illicit heroin
trafficking organizations by prosecuting their leaders and
seizing profits and assets. Third, treating heroin trafficking as
a serious national security threat. Fourth, reducing the supply
of entering the United States.

As for Burma, he recommends the "continuing at an appropriate
level a general dialogue with the appropriate Burmese authorities
regarding counternarcotics."

The strategy calls "for an exchange of information, again with
the appropriate Burmese officials, to support unilateral narcotic
operations and provide for some in-country counternarcotics
training to specialise units on a case-by-case basis, and subject
to the same US standards and safeguards that we use in other
countries, and continue to support the United Nations drug
control programme,  narcotic efforts, in Burma."

Many policy analysts see Brown's position as a greenlight towards
an increase in US anti-narcotic contacts and cooperation with the
Slorc. But Brown, did  not make clear whether the suggested
dialogue meant the restoration of full diplomatic relations by
re-assigning a new US ambassador to the country, and whether the
US will resume its anti-drug assistance to Burma, which, after
the cut-off has been channelled and re-directed to crop
substitution activities under the UN Drug Control Programme and
UN Development programme.

Surprisingly, Brown, a former law enforcement officer in New
York, is perhaps the first senior official ever to boldly suggest
that the best way to serve both the US people who are suffering
under the drug trade and the Burmese people who are suffering
under the repressive regime is to "side with the democratic
resistance in any way we can to overthrow the dictatorship and
see that Aung San Suu Kyi, who was honestly elected, is able to
become the leader of this country."

With some congressmen and senators trying to introduce a
comprehensive US economic sanction on Burma as an effective tool
to break the political deadlock in Burma, others argues that an
increase in diplomatic relations and direct contact and
cooperation would help bring about political reform and respect
for human rights.

President Clinton, as well as other world leaders, can not afford
to delay having a definite policy towards Burma. This coming July
11 is officially the six year deadline for popular opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi's unlawful house arrest. The Slorc is no
more legal mechanism to continue her detention unless it, as done
in the past, devises a new law to serve its purpose.

Also later next month, Asean is scheduled to hold its annual
ministerial meeting in Brunei followed  by sessions with the
regional groupings seven dialogue partners from the developed
economies, including the US. The Slorc will again invited as
guest of the host country thus calling the bluff once again of
the West which has urged the exclusion of the Slorc
representatives at the forum.

Though the United States has rekindled the Burmese aspiration for
democracy and human rights. Washington's lame threats to the
Slorc has only embarrassed the free world. Mere lip-service to
the Burmese struggle is not enough. Words have to be met with
actions.




ABSL:  REQUEST FOR THE FREEDOM OF DETAINED BURMESE STUDENTS



Subject: STATEMENT OF ABSL

                     ALL BURMA STUDENTS LEAGUE(ABSL)

                                           Date. June 28,1995.


At present, about 50 of the Burmese students have been being
detained in SDC (special detention center) and they are facing
with hopeless life behind bars but depends on Thai government's
humanitarian sympathy and correct stance in politics.

As the Thai government did not take charge them in order that to
prolong their detention, they are bitterly suffering from the
worsening life day after day. Some of detained students have been
over 17 months long while the most are entering into 7 months in
detention. At worst one of the detained Burmese students in SDC
suddenly died in recent as a result of the indefinite long-
detention and  the lacking in humanitarian sympathy by his
detainers.

Furthermore, we have received a statement from SDC by mail. After
trying to confirm, we seriously concern about three of detained
students who are trying in hunger strike began on 24 June and
proclaiming that is their fast to death hunger strike, because no
media states their hunger strike action till now.

We respectfully request Thai government, the Embassies interested
in Burma affairs, NGOs and news medias that to kindly help
detained Burmese students for their freedom from detention.

We sincerely hope that Thai government will serve them to release
from detention in anyway, showing its respectable dignity.

Hoping for the freedom of detained Burmese students.


News and Information department
All Burma Students League (Thailand)


****************************************************************


      The release of the statement on an urgent to Thai government
      -------------------------------------------------------------
               by holding our past to death hunger strike
              --------------------------------------------


We are Burmese students who are striving for achieving democracy
and human rights in Burma. Last September, 1988, when the
military led by an oligarchy come to power with a bloody coup of
popular political demonstrations, we the Burmese students staged
a nation wide pro democracy campaign, escape from Burma to
Thailand.


Having arrived in Thailand, we took refuge in the United Nation
High Commissioner for Refugee  Bangkok branch. For all we had
undertaking from UNHCR, we are facing the Thai government's
arrest for allegedly illegal immigrants, repatriation to Burma
and other abuses day by day.

At present, e are being unjustly imprisoned without trail by the
Thai government for extended periods of time. It is strongly
confident that the Thai government is banning us from existing on
our pro democracy movement so as to favor its controversial
constructive engagement policy towards SLORC so called State Law
and Order Restoration Council, the cunning regime, to profit
Burma economically.

The worst of our recent situation is that we don't know whether
or not we'll  be released at what time and being to meet such an
ulster disaster in stir is a fate worse than death. As for our
terrible detention conditions, we made an ironical decision that
is to appeal to Thai government to allow leaving for America or
Australia in order  that the recent caretakers government's prime
minster Chaun Leekpai side the students (exile Burmese Students)
who don't want to live in Thailand can go any third country
willing to accept them.

Then, we believe that countries which we want to will be able to
rescue our trouble in the light of our proposal as adequate
supports for the movements of democracy and peace in Burma and
for helping our better life in future.

Therefore, we would like earnestly to request of the Thai
government is that the government has to allow as our special
request. If the government fails to pursue following our request
we are going to fight until our dying by holding our fast to
death hunger strike.

Based on the facts above given, we decided to begin our fast to
death hunger strike on June 24, 1995.

Date. June 24, 1995.



   Signature           Signature           Signature
Mr. Thant Zin Htun   Mr. Thet Oo Naing   Mr. Nanda Kyaw


The Burmese Student Detainees
Bang Khen Detention Center
Bangkok , Thailand

cc. Royal Thai Government
    Embassy of the United States
    Embassy of Australia





NATION: MON GUERRILLA GROUP SIGNS PEACE AGREEMENT WITH BURMESE
      JUNTA
The Nation/30.6.95

MOULMEIN, BURMA_ Burma's ethnic minority Mon guerrilla group,
which has been fighting for grater autonomy since 1949, signed a
cease fire with Burma's military government here yesterday.

A delegation of 27 Mon guerrilla officials and commanders
attended a ceremony at the regional Burmese Army headquarters at
which they handed over lists of 7,000 guerrillas and another of
8,000 assorted weapons.

The autonomy-seeking guerrillas are allowed to retain their
weapons in certain areas under the agreement, government
officials said.

Burma's powerful military intelligence chief, Lt Gen Khin Nyunt,
and several government ministers, travelled to this southeastern
town for the ceremony and subsequent talks between the two sides.

"Successive governments were not able to work for the development
of the country because of disunity among the national races. This
is one of the reasons we have been lagging behind our
neighbours," Khin Nyunt said in a speech.

Since it was formed in 1988 Burma's ruling military body, State
Law and Order Restoration Council(Slorc), has signed ceasefire
deals with 15 guerrilla groups.

Khin Nyint said the Slorc was willing to talk to the last major
ethnic minority Army still fighting, the Karen National
Union(KNU), but would never negotiate with opium warlord Khun Sa.

"If the KNU comes to the table with sincerity and without any
external manipulation we are ready to talk," he said.

Of Khun Sa's powerful guerrilla force he said: "They are not
ethnic group fighting for political reasons, they are merely
narcotics traffickers and will be eliminated."

New Mon State Party(NMSP) official Nai Tin Aung presented a list
of demands his group is making including the repatriation of
refugees in camps along the border with Thailand and the right to
export 70,000 tons of timber already felled by Thai logging
companies.

He said the NMSP was also seeking fishing rights in the Andaman
sea and the right to operate land transport facilities along
the coast of southeast Burma and from Moulmein to Three Pagoda
pass on the border with Thailand.

There was no mention of the NMSP being allocated areas of
administration in southeastern Burma as they have been demanding
and one official said the SLorc had no right to grant such
concession.

we are not an elected government, we have no authority to give
territorial rights, Slorc official Lieutenant-Colonel Kyaw Thein
said.




SLORC: MONS RETURN TO THE LEGAL FOLD
[This was sent by a SLORC source but without attributing the original source. Presumably it is from the
New Light of Myanmar--Strider]

     NEW Mon State Party becomes 15th
group to realize true attitude of Government
Nai Htin lauds dawining of new era of
peace Mon State due to mutual trust,
goodwill 7,860 brethren accept olive branch
bringing in assortment of 8,346 light and
heavy arms, ammo

     YANGON, 29 June The New
Mon State Party returned to the
legal fold at a ceremony in the
Aung San Hall of the South-
East Command at 9 am today.
     Chairman of Mon State Law
and Order Restoration Council
Commander of South-East
Command Maj-Gen Ket Sein
said the day marked the
NMSP's return to the legal fold
after giving up the line of armed
struggle to join the government
and implement regional deve-
lopment projects. So. he said,
it was an auspicious day not
only for the entire Mon State
but also for the Union of Myan-
mar.
     He then explained the main
reason for the NMSP's return
to the legal fold. He recalled
that Secretary-1 of the State
Law and Order Restoration
Council Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt
arrived Ye on 9 March 1994. In
meeting the departmental per-
sonnel, local people and
townselders, he invited the
armed groups in the jungles to
return to the legal fold in ap-
preciation of the government's
goodwill .
     Similarly, he said, the Secre-
tary- 1 proceeded to
Thanbyuzayat the same day and
invited the armed groups to
come forward for negotiations
with the government to be able
to join the latter ansi strive for
national development.
     Taking into account the no-
ble desire and sincere attitude
of the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, the
NMSP entered into negotia-
tions time and again with rep-
resentatives of the State Law
and Order Restoration Council
in Mawlamyine. The NMSP
then decided to cooperate with
the Statc Law and Order Res-
toration Council after realiz-
ing the goodwiil of the latter.
This has resulted in the preva
t lence of peace in the entire
Mon State, hc said.
     For more than forty years
since regaining of independ-
ence there erupted armed in-
surrection in the country re-
sulting from ideological dif-
ferences, mutual suspicion and
external instigations leading to
difference of opinion among
the national brethren.
     Loss in life, blood, sweat and
l Iimbs have been inestimable
because the problem of differ-
ence of opinion among the na-
tional brethren was solved
through thc use of force, he
said.
     Both the Tatmadaw mem
bers and armed group mem-
bers in the jungles were killed
or wounded. Local populace,
on their part, had been on the
run in the absence of peace.
They could not eat or sleep
well nor earn their living in
peace. They had to leave their
work and face difficulties, he
said.
     He noted that the govern-
ment is working for the na-
tional reconciliation with the
objective of avoiding tragic
incidents and irreplaceable
loss.
     National reconciliation is es-
sential for the emergence of a
modern and developed State
and hence, he said, the State
Law and Order Restoration
Council has laid down plans
and is implementing develop-
ment projects for border areas
and national races aimed at
ensuring national unity and
improving the social standard
of national races.
     In other words, he said, the
State Law and Order Restora-
tion Council is determined to
unswervingly implement the
Four National Objectives.
     With much patience armed
groups in the jungles are being
invited to return to the legal
fold in order that all the na-
tional brethren may play a role
in building the all-round de-
veloped, modern nation, he
noted.
     The government, he said, is
committed to shaping the good
future or history of Myanmar.
Hence, he said, efforts are be-
ing made to eliminate the evil
instances in the history and
create favourable conditions of
stability andpeaceand national
development for the future
generations.
     NMSP becomes the 15th
armed group to have returned
to the legal fold after realizing
the aim and attitude of the Gov-
ernment.
     The dawning ofs peace in
Mon State has been due to col-
lective efforts of nationalities,
Tatmadaw members, depart-
mental personnel and peace
negotiators, he said.
     The Tatmadaw will hold al-
ways in esteem Our Three Main
National Causes-non-disinte-
gration of the Union, non-dis-
integration of national solidar-
ity and perpetuation of sover-
eignty, and carry on with its
work, he said.
     He went on to say that as
peace has dawned in the en-
tire country, a stable, peace
ful and modern nation will
certainly emerge in the very
near future.
     In conclusion, he said the
entire mass of national races
are now happy and honoured
to learn that NMSP is to work
together with the government
in accordance with the gov-
ernment's border area devel-
opment policy. Maj-Gen Ket
Sein urged the NMSP to join
the government ane3 strive for
the rapid development and both
mental and physical well be-
ing in Mon State.
   NMSP Vice-Chairman
     Nai Htin speaks
On behalf of Chairman Nai
Shwe Kyin of the New Mon
I State Party, Vice-Chairman
Nai Htin spokc of an account
of returning to the legal fold.
     He thanked thezChairman
of the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, the Sec-
retary-1 and members, peace
negotiators and officials con
cerned for their genuine good-
will and concerted endeavours
for dawning of Iseace in Mon
State, Mon region and in the
entire nation.
     Recalling history, he said
Mon and Myanmar brothers
had lived together through in
weal or woe for many: years in
accordance with the teachings
of Lord Buddha, and built the
firm State.
     Due to disunity of Mon
and Myanmar kings, the ha
tion fell under servitude, he
said, adding that Mon nation
independence struggle under
the leadership of Bogyoke
Aung San till at last independ-
ence was regained.
     Since the regaining of the
independence in 1948, he
said, the national brethren were
disunited due to ideological
differences and various
instigations, and the nation had
been mired in the armed strug-
gle for over 40 years.
     The entire people bitterly
suffered the effects of the armed
crisis, he noted.
     He said the public there-
fore wanted peace and it is also
time for the national brethren
to build national reconciliation
putting an end to the armed
struggle for national and public
interest.
     The governments of re-
spective eras had tried to stop
fighting and negotiate in their
own ways, but their attempts
weSe not successful due to vari-
ous reasons, he said.
     In the time of the State Law
and Order Restoration Coun-
cil, he said, corlderted cndeav-
ours have been made for inter-
nal peace, and because of its
true goodwill, altogether 14
armed groups returned to the
legal fold and are now partici-
pating in national development
tasks together with the govern
ment.
     He said the Secretary- I
himself visited Ye Township
and extended an olive branch
with genuine goodwill for co-
operation for Mon fegional de-
velopment.
     The New Mon State Party,
he said, wholeheartedly wel-
comesl the Secretary- I 's feace
gall, and emergency meetings
were held within the party and
sought the aspirations of the
Mon public.
     He noted that after passing
through many difficulties, there
came the moment of peace
milestone, expressing belief
that the entire Union nationals
will be filled with joy for the
NMSP's returning to the legal
fold and that the party can now
carry out national reconcilia-
tion task.
     He remarked that due to
the armed crisis, Mon State
lagged in development and it is
now essential to give priority
for resettlement of those who
fled the region and for progress
of the transport and communi
cation, health and education
sectors.
     He emphatically ex-
pressed belief that only when
they join hands and work to
gether with the State Law and
Order Restoration Council,
will the success be achieved
in these tasks.
     In conclusion, he said the
NMSP firmly believes the true
goodwill of the government and
is determined to cooperate with
it.
     He firmly pledged that the
party will strive their utmost to
build the nation to be modern
and prosper under the leader
ship of the State Law and Or-
der Restoration Council up-
holding Our Three Main Na-
tional Causes-non-disinte-
gration of the Union, non-dis
integration of national solidar-
ity and perpetuation of sover-
eignty.
     Joint Secretary of the Mili
tary Committee of NMSP Nai
Aung Naing presented the re-
port on strength, arms and am-
munition to Chairman of Mon
State Law and Order Restora-
tion Council Commander Maj-
Gen Ket Sein.
     The Secretary-1 cor-
dially greeted Vice-Chair-
man of NMSP Nai Htin and
members, peace negotiators
and the nationals.
     The strength of NMSP,
which returned to the legal
fold today, is 7,860 who
brought with them 4,360 AK
automatic, 2175M-16s,432
carbines, 218 assorted arms,
176 40mm M-79s,284
PrGs, 7360mm mortars, 35
81/82mm mortars, six 75mm
RFs, 230 82mm RFs, five
107mm rockets, 12 point-
fives, 20SAM-7s, 10M-57s,
50 M-60s and 225 RPD AKs,
totalling 8,346.
     Commander Maj-Gen
Ket Sein hosted dinner in
honour of Secretary-1
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt and
ministers and representatives
of the NMSP at Aung San
Hall of South-East Com-
mand.





KNPP: STATEMENT ON 30/6/95

                 THE KARENNI NATIONAL PROGRESSIVE PARTY

                             STATEMENT(1/95)


Fierce fighting broken out today at about 9 am around Kauk Kauk's
outer perimeter and at Mae Surin confluence. More SLORC troops
have been thrown into KNPP areas, since the latter issued its
statement dated June 28, regarding SLORC military activities in
Karenni. SLORC has now between four to five thousand troops
spread out and poised for an all-out onslaught on Karenni bases.
To "support" them, SLORC has pressured hundred of men, women and
students to serve as porters. Tractors, bullocks carts, and
horses are being requisitioned to carry military equipment,
ammunition, and other supplies.

SLORC has tried to hood-wink and divert the attention of the
international community by announcing that it has, as reported in
Bangkok Post, Friday, June 30, 1995, repeatedly requested access
through KNPP dominated area in order to attack the Mong Tai
headquarters. The irony is that SLORC  has the whole of Shan
State from which to launch attacks against Khun Sa. It does not
in the least need to cross the tiny Karenni territory to attacks
Mong Tai headquarters. The fact that SLORC is launching an all
out military offensive against Karenni is not because Karenni has
refused them access through Karenni to attack the Mong Tai head-
quarters, but to neutralize Karenni forces and to subjugate the
Karenni people. Given the fact that SLORC has a long history of
broken promise and outright lies, this is nothing but, pure
fabrication.

SLORC, in pursuit of its objective- to destroy the Karenni forces
and to subjugate the Karenni people - is brazenly violating human
rights on a ground scale. To mount the military offensive against
the KNPP, it has collected porters fees- 200 kyats per household,
pressed 1500 civilians, woman and children included, to serve as
porters, and requisitioned tractors, bullock carts and horses
into service. This is rice growing season, and tractors, bullocks
and bullock carts are absolutely indispensable for the farmers.

SLORC present military offensive has driven more than a thousand
Karenni people to seek refuge in existing Karenni refuge camps
situated along the border inside Thailand. Currently there are
more than six thousand Karenni refugee along the border.

Karenni is a small nation. It is a small people. It is struggling
to defend its freedom and its territorial integrity. The enemy
which is seeking to subjugate it is a hundred times stronger.
But, we believe that our cause is just, and that freedom is
something worth fighting for. As a result, we have, in spite of
heavy odds against us, decided to continue fighting. we will go
on fighting until we achieve our freedom.

On the other hand, we are looking outward to all peace loving
nations and peoples the world over--governments, non-governmental
organization and individual--- to support our just fight, and to
extend assistance to us in whatever way they can. We requested
them to lend their voice in condemning and pressuring SLORC into
abiding by the agreement it reached with KNPP three months ago,
and withdrawing its troops from the KNPP area.

Failure by the international community to do so will not only
mean sanctioning SLORC's human rights abuses, it will also
embolden and encourage SLORC to continue embarking on its
militaristic and despotic designs which are certain to threat the
stability of the region.



30th June, 1995                           Central Committee
                               Karenni National Progressive Party


SEASIA-: COPIES OF BURMA PEACE AGREEMENTS NEEDED


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 2 Jul 1995 10:38:32 +0800
To: Multiple recipients of list SEASIA-L <SEASIA-L@xxxxxxx>
Subject: Burma Peace Agreements

Can anyone assist me in obtaining a copy (in English or French) of one
of
the peace agreements signed between Burma and any one of the 14 rebel
ethnic
groups?

Thanks.
-----------------------------
Fernand de Varennes - Lecturer
School of Law - Murdoch University
Perth, Western Australia 6150
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: 61 9 360 6510
Fax: 61 9 310 6671
email: devarenn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




NATION: BURMA DECLARES SECTION OF TERRITORIAL WATERS OFF-LIMIT
The Nation/ The Region IN BRIEF/2.7.95

Burmese authorities on Friday declared another area of its
southern territorial waters off-limit to all ships because of
seismic oil exploration operations, state-run Radio Rangoon said
in a despatch monitored in Bangkok.

Total-Myanmar exploration Company, a joint venture oil
exploration firm set up by Burma's state owned Oil and Natural
Gas Enterprise and France's Total is conducting off-shore seismic
surveys in the area for six weeks beginning this weekend, the
report said in a broadcast monitored here.

Since 1993 Burmese authorities have declared several separate
areas in its southern territorial waters off-limit for the same
reason but with different companies.

Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Nyunt Swe, meanwhile, returned
home Friday from China after signing a memorandum on border
demarcation, Radio Rangoon said.

Nyunt Swe, who headed a good-will delegation to China, signed the
memorandum with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, the radio
said.- Agence France-Presse, Associated Press.





NATION/KYODO: MON PEACE PACT MAY SPARK HUNT FOR WAR TREASURE CACHE
The Nation/2.7.95

Kyodo

RANGOON_ A Peace agreement between the Burmese military junta and
Mon rebels may revive a search for a rumoured treasure trove in a
cave said to have been dug by Japanese soldiers in the last days
of World War II in mountains of Mon State.

Mon rebels who controlled the region since 1948 recently agreed
to surrender to the central government, opening the region to
civilians, and renewing the prospect of a fully-funded search for
the cave, rumoured to be near Thanbyu-Zayat a town of 160
kilometers southeast of Rangoon.

Locals says they believe the cave was built and used by the
Imperial Japanese Army during World War II to store military
supplies, including weapons.

Shortly before the Japanese surrender in August, 1945, the
entrance of the cave was closed off with concrete and covered
with earth.

The town is well known as the starting point of the "death
railway" built between Burma and Thailand by the Japanese Army
with conscript local labour and prisoners of war.

Although there is no hard evidence of the existence of the cave,
word that it might contain treasures stolen by the Japanese army
could be enough to promote a search.

Journalists visiting the area to witness a recent surrender
ceremony by Mon rebels were told by a military officer that any
search for a cave would be difficult as the mountains are densely
forested.

Mon rebels reportedly searched for the cave, but give up after
rumours that the mountain's guardian spirit was displaced and
several team died.

Journalist at the ceremony visited a cone-shaped pagoda built by
the Japanese army near the town toward the end of the war.

Unlike other pagodas in Burma which have four entrances facing
north, south, east and west, the Japanese-built pagoda has
entrance has entrances facing northeast, southeast, southwest and
northwest, prompting speculation that the entrance facing the
mountain range could point to the cave.



NATION: 1,000 SENT FLEEING AS BURMESE ARMY CONTINUES OFFENSIVE

YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK
JAMES FAHN
The Nation/2.7.95

AS BURMA'S armed ethnic Karenni guerrillas called for
international condemnation of the ruling junta's military
offensive against them, the Burmese army yesterday continued its
advance for a second day and forced over 1,000 people to flee
into the jungle.

The attacks on the Karenni National Progressive Party were
considered "serious" and "blatant" break of the ceasefire which
both sides reached in March, a senior KNPP official said.

After day-long clashes on Friday around Kauk Kauk Hill and the
Mae Surin confluence, both of which are opposite Mae Hong Son's
Khun Yuan district, more fighting erupted yesterday at Tatamaw,
opposite the Muang district in the province.

The official said the bodies of two Burmese soldiers were found
from Friday's clashes, but the KNPP said they suffered no
casualties.

Fighting at Ban Nai Soi, a small border village just north of Mae
Hong Son town, began at 10am yesterday, according to refugees
fleeing the battle scene. By the afternoon, the battle was said
to only a few kilometers from the border.

Reporters were warned not to approach closer than three
kilometers to the border but Thai officials insisted fighting had
not spilled over into Thailand.

Dozens of Karenni refugees were seen crossing into Thailand by
foot. One villager said as many as 2,000 people may try to enter
Thailand at Ban Nai Soi to escape the fighting>

At Camp 3, an existing refugees camp about three kms from the
border, refugees frantically loaded their belonging into pick-up
trucks to be taken into Ban Nai Soi itself, deemed to be safer
than Camp 3.

Meanwhile, to the north, fighting has been reported at Mesete and
Meluya, two Karenni towns located about 15 km from the border in
northern Muang district.

In an interview yesterday, the same KNPP official said the ruling
Burmese State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) violated
in March and not vice versa.

The official, who requested not to be named, has urged the
international community "to condemn and put pressure to withdraw
their troops from the KNPP-held areas", saying that a failure to
do so would mean sanctioning Slorc's human rights abuses.

"it will also embolden and encourage the Slorc to continue
embarking on its militaristic and despotic design which are
certain to threaten the stability of the region," said an urgent
KNPP statement released yesterday.

The official accepted that prospective "economic activities" in
the KNPP-controlled area and the group's political stance could
be the reasons that prompted Slorc to recently send four to five
thousand troops into the Karenni controlled territory.

The official quoted senior Burmese officers in the Karenni state
capital of Loikaw as saying that "the order to send forces [into
the KNPP area] came from senior authorities in Rangoon".

Maj Gen Maung Gyi, the commander of the Burmese Army's Regional
Control Command in Loikaw, was quoted as telling KNPP
representatives in the city that troops were to be sent to
"consolidate" and secure the border with Thailand as a newly-
elected Thai government might change its border policy with
Burma. The KNPP had argued against the reasoning, saying the
election was a domestic affair of Thailand.

Slorc, said the official, might not be happy with the KNPP public
statements that despite a truce deal, the ethnic group's
political stance remains unchanged - that it still demanded
independence for the Karenni state.

The commander also reportedly informed the ethnic group to give
way and allow a foreign company, Billion Group, which was granted
a logging concession from Slorc," to extract logs from the KNPP
area, opposite Thailand's Khun Yuam, to Loikaw and later to
Rangoon.

The KNPP official said even though his group was previously paid
"some money as tax" for timber concessions by logging firms a few
years ago, the Billion Group and Slorc had not done so this time.

"Slorc had previously allowed us to collect tax but it was still
much less than what Slorc got from logging firms," he said. "We
are the owners of the natural resources, but Slorc is leasing
them out and making a lot of money out of foreign companies. We
ourselves do not give out logging concessions," he said.

The official believed that Slorc in fact wanted to control the
long Thai-Burmese border frontier from opposite Mae Hong Son down
to Tak and Kanchanaburi now that it had captured the ethnic Karen
guerrilla headquarters and other strongholds in Tak.

The logging problem, he said, could in fact be resolved or a
compromise reached as the KNPP was always ready to talk.

"We can talk, but first we want Slorc to withdraw their troops
their troops into the areas as a means to gain territory closer
to opium warlord Khun Sa's headquarters at Ho-mong, which the
Burmese army has repeatedly promised to overrun.

"If they want to attack Homong, they did not have to send forces
into Kauk Kauk Hill and Mae Surin areas which are long way from
Homong. They can just go to their area in Tatamaw and proceed
from there, which is closer," he said.

NCGUB: STATEMENT REGARDING VIOLATION OF KARENNI CEASEFIRE BY SLORC

           NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA

                                STATEMENT

  Regarding Violation of the Cease-fire Agreement with Karenni


The National Coalition Government of has received a statement
issued by the Karenni National Progressive Party regarding the
breaching of the cease-fire agreement by the Burmese military
regime.

Since the birth of the military dictatorship on March 2, 1962,
when a coup  was stage against an elected government led by Prime
Minister U Nu, the military leaders in Burma have always resorted
to brute force as a means of resolving problems. Over the years
agreements concluded with opposition forces were always short-
lived because the military regime these pacts only to buy time.

The military regimes's decision to send troops into Karenni
territory in breach of the ceasefire agreement with the Karenni
National Progressive party does not come as a surprise to us or
even to the ethnic nationality groups which have entered into
similar cease-fire agreements with the military regime, It was
just a matter of time before that happened.

The latest military venture in Karenni territory, which further
expose the true nature of the military leaders, will mostly hurt
the weak women, children and the aged. We call on our
neighbouring countries, which are already sheltering refugees, to
extend their hospitality once more to the people fleeing from the
latest round of military onslaught.

We understand the difficulties involved in shouldering the burden
of refugees and wish we could provide a simple solution. But,
socioeconomic problems that exist in Burma today directly
contributed to the increase in number of refugees and those
problems will remain unresolved unless we provide an overall
political solution. To achieve a political solution, we need to
rid Burma of its dictatorship and restore democracy and freedom.
We therefore call on the international community to avoid any
action that strengthens the hands of the military dictatorship
and to join in the international sanctions against the military
junta in Burma.


June 30, 1995





NATION: BURMESE-KARENNI FIGHTING DISLOCATES 3,000

JAMES FAHIN
The Nation/3.7.95

MAE HONG SON - While Thais headed to the polls yesterday,
sporadic battles between Burmese troops and a Karenni resistance
group continued across the border in Karenni state.

The fighting which began in earnest on Friday morning has caused
the dislocation of at least 3,000 people.

Yesterday morning, about 1,500 Karen and Karenni refugees at camp
3 located between the village of Ban Nai Soi and the Burmese
border in Muang district - began to relocate to a Padaung village
about three kilometres further from the border, according to
sources from the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF).

A Thai civillian official confirmed that the move would take
place, although at noon he said it had not yet begun.

The refugees used to live in the Padaung,or 'Longneck" village _
which is now a popular tourist site_ but the move would be
difficult because their former houses were no longer standing, he
said.

The Thai official also confirmed that further north in Muang
district about 1,500 refugees had moved from the Do Mo Sheh camp
inside Burma to Pang Yong camp, which he said sits right on the
border.

Conditions were said to be difficult there because of almost
continuous rain, but he added that there were at least some
vacant houses at Pang Yong left by refugees who moved to Do Mo
Sheh.

Reports from Khun Yuam district, south of Muang district, were
more sketchy and suggested that no more than a few hundred
refugees had entered Thailand there.

Meanwhile, reports on the fighting suggested that Burmese troops
were attempting to move eastward from the Salween River in four
columns, rather than five as previously reported.

A statement issued on Saturday by the Karenni Progressive Party
(KNPP) said the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council
(Slorc) had sent 45,000 troops to attack KNPP bases.

In the southernmost engagement _ around Kauk Kauk, a few
kilometres west of border post 12 which connects Karenni sources
said they had Kept Slorc troops at bay.

A bit further north, however, Burmese troops had reportedly
advanced up the Mae Surin river and were at least close to taking
Border Post 11, which is also in Khun Yuam district.

Even further up the Mae Surin River, about 10 km inside Thailand,
sits refugees Camp 5, which housed about 2,000 Karenni refugees
before the fighting, and may hold more now.

A third engagement was taking place further north at Mae Yu, a
14-km drive from Border Post 9, which connects Karenni state with
Ban Nai Soi in Muang district. Camp 3 is also in area, as is an
ABSDF camp.

The northernmost engagement was reported at Mae Sa Te, about 15-
km west of the camps of Do Mo Sheh and Pang Yong (Camps 2 and 1
respectively).

The KNPP statement said that, in addition to press-ganging
villagers into becoming porters, Slorc had requisitioned
tractors, bullocks and bullock carts from farmers in Karenni
state to carry military equipment and other supplies.

A Karenni sources said that this suggested that Burmese troops
would bring in field artillery and motors. There have already
been reports of shelling at Mae Yu.





VOA: BURMA CENSURED 
(VOA editorial)
agb1    bit.listserv.seasia-l    1:40 PM  Jul  1, 1995
(at postoffice3.mail.cornell.edu)       (From News system)

Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 11:41:43 -0700
Message-Id: <199507011841.LAA04025@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: GEN/ASIA: Forced Labor in Burma
Sender: owner-indonesia-l@xxxxxxxxxxx

Date= July 2, 1995
Type= Editorial
Number= 0-06427
Title= Burma Censured For Forced Labor

Anncr:
The Voice of America presents differing points of view on a
wide variety of issues.  Next, an editorial expressing the
policies of the United States government.

    Forced labor is a violation of fundamental human rights.
Unfortunately, in some countries this practice is still
tolerated or even promoted by governments.  One of the worst
violators is Burma.  Recently, a monitoring committee of the
international labor organization censured the Burmese
government for its continued use of forced labor on government
projects and in military campaigns.
    The most blatant use of forced labor in Burma is the
military regime's practice of taking people from their villages
and farms and making them army porters.  Civilian men are
forced to carry ammunition and other supplies, as well as
wounded troops, in areas where the army is fighting insurgents.
The Burmese army also forces women to serve as porters, cooks
and laundresses.  Many women have been raped, and both men and
women have become ill or even died from maltreatment and
overwork.  As the U.S. State department pointed out in its most
recent human rights report on Burma, the use of civilian
porters by the army remains a standard practice and has
probably even increased.
    In addition, hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens have
been forcibly conscripted to work on military regime projects.
They are made to work under threat of heavy fines, are
subjected to severe physical abuse, and often receive no pay or
food.  Two large projects attracted international attention.
>From april to July 1994, nearly the entire adult population of
Mandalay was forced to contribute labor or money to
rehabilitate the area around the city's palace compound in an
attempt to make it more attractive to tourists.  In southern
Burma, tens of thousands of villagers were forced to work in
harsh conditions to help build the Ye-Tavoy railway.
    The United States calls on the Burmese military regime to
end immediately its abominable forced labor practices.  Burma's
unelected leaders should respect the wishes of the people,
release all political prisoners and engage in a dialogue aimed
at an early restoration of democracy.
Anncr:
    That was an editorial expressing the policies of the United
States government.  If you would like to be heard on this
issue, please write to editorials, Voice of America,
Washington, DC, 20547, USA.  You may also send us a fax at
(202) 619-1043.  Your comments may be used on the air.

30-Jun-95 10:29 AM EDT (1429 UTC)
Source: Voice of America

/END