News, Jan. 11

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Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 00:45:33 -0800


US takes credit for Khun Sa's surrender to Burma

Bkk Post/11.1.96

US officials yesterday rejected Burmese claims that the United
States had jumped in late in the fight against Khun Sa, saying
that US indictments against him had contributed to Burma's recent
successes.

"It (the Mong Tai Army surrender) did not Just happen. The
situation we see now is the result of a lot of effort focused in
on Chang Shi-fu (Khun Sa's Chinese name), one of the main drug
traffickers in the world," a US official said.

Burmese military officials last week made scornful remarks about
a US announcement that it had offered a reward of up to $2
million for information leading to Khun Sa's appearance in a US
court.

"The Americans never lifted a finger to help us with Khun Sa.
They refused to give us weapons to fight against him ... now they
want to move in," a Burmese official said in Rangoon last week.

Concerted efforts by the US and other countries were instrumental
in forcing Khun Sa to make a deal with the State Law and Order
Restoration Council, the US official said.

Thailand played a major role by making a serious effort since
mid-1994 to impose stricter controls on the border trade with the
MTA, and by cooperating with US legal efforts, a Western
diplomatic source said.

Thai and US moves against the MTA forced Khun Sa to make a deal
with the Burmese junta by limiting his supplies and cutting his
drug trafficking income, which contributed to a mass defection
late last year, the sources said.

Central to the international efforts was a set of indictments in
New York of Khun Sa and 19 associates in 1989 and 1992, the US
official said.

Ten of Khun Sa's top aides involved in selling and transporting
heroin to Chinese criminal gangs operating mostly out of Taiwan
and Hong Kong were arrested in Thailand in November 1994 on the
basis of US warrants.

Thailand- arrested an 11th member of Khun Sa's organisation just
a few months ago, though the legal process of appeals and
extradition was still going on and the suspects remained in
Thailand, he said.

"Khun Sa's brain trust is in custody now. It is a very serious
blow to his trafficking network. It limits their ability to sell
and to get money," the US official added.

Thailand's efforts to cut off the MTA's supplies played a major
role in forcing Khun Sa's hand, the Western diplomatic source
said.

"Closing the main routes across the border made it much more
difficult to resupply his troops, even if goods did get across by
foot and mules and even the occasional late night pickup truck,"
the source said.

This meant that there were a lot of disgruntled soldiers and
contributed in large measure to the defection late
last year of several thousand troops to form a separate ethnic
Shan independence movement, the source added.

But the effects of Khun Sa's agreement with the Burmese junta on
the flow of heroin to international markets could not be
estimated until the terms of the deal were known and Burma's
commitment to moving against other drug traffickers in the Golden
Triangle was tested.

The US official said 67 percent of the heroin seized in the US in
1994 came from the Golden Triangle, and that the MTA processed
over half of the region's production, though the opium may have
been grown in areas controlled by other armed ethnic groups.

He declined to speculate on how the US might react if Khun Sa was
allowed to go free.

## Following Khun Sa's surrender to Rangoon on Sunday, some Shan
fighters battling for autonomy are trying to form a new
liberation movement, a border source said yesterday in Chiang
Mai.

The source said about 3,060 Shan soldiers under the leadership of
Zhao Suray had remained at their strongholds opposite Chiang Rai
and Chiang Mai provinces.

The soldiers, who are ex-members of the Shan United Restoration
Army (SURA), another resistance force against Rangoon, had not
staged any move for the moment, but were waiting for an order
from their commanders.

The source also said the were trying to form a new liberation
movement to fight for an independent Shan State after Khun Sa
hand over his troops and territory to SLORC.

However, they were still in the process of selecting a new
leader.

Among leading figures, Gunjade has emerged as possible leader in
the Shan people's fight against the Burmese junta, said the
source. _ AFP, Bangkok Post

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

US scoffs at Burmese claim it entered Khun Sa war late

Agence France-Presse
The Nation/11.1.96

US OFFICIALS yesterday rejected Burmese claims that the United
States had entered the battle against opium warlord Khun Sa late,
saying that US indictments had contributed to Burma's latest
successes.

After decades of independence from Rangoon, Khun Sa's Mong Tai
Army (MTA) last week allowed forces of the Burmese military
government to enter its headquarters at Ho Mong in Burma's
eastern Shan State, near the Thai border.

"It did not just happen. The situation we see now is the result
of a lot of effort focused in on Chang Shi-Fu (Khun Sa's Chinese
name), one of the main drug traffickers in the world," a US
official said.

Burmese military officials last week made scornful remarks about
a US announcement that it had offered a reward of up to $2
million dollars for information leading to Khun Sa's appearance
in a US court.

"The Americans never lifted a finger to help us with Khun Sa.
They refused to give us weapons to fight against him ... Now they
want to move in," a Burmese official approached at an
independence day dinner in Rangoon said last week.

Concerted efforts by the United States and other countries,
especially Thailand, were instrumental in forcing Khun Sa to make
a deal with Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (Slorc), the US official said.

Central to these efforts was a set of indictments by a US court
in New York of Khun Sa and 19 associates under Operation Tiger
Trap, he said.

Ten of Khun Sa's top aides involved in selling and transporting
heroin to Chinese criminal gangs operating mostly out of Taiwan
and Hong Kong were arrested in Thailand in November 1994 on the
basis of US warrants and another member was arrested only
recently, the US official said.

"Khun Sa's brain trust is in custody now. It is a very serious
blow to his trafficking network. It limits their ability to sell
and to get money," he added.

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

Karens keep 'Rambo Hill' despite Burmese onslaught

Associated Press
The Nation/11.1.96

BURMESE troops continued their offensive against ethnic Karenni
rebels yesterday, but a force of 400 guerrillas was still holding
out at a stronghold they called "Rambo Hill".

About 1,600 Burmese soldiers shelled Karenni positions as the
Rangoon government sought to crush one of the last groups
blocking its effort to control all of Burma.

The Burmese military stepped up its campaign against the Karennis
after imposing a peace settlement on opium warlord Khun Sa and
his ethnic Shan army, which controlled an area immediately north
of the Karenni enclave. The Karenni, like the Shan, have waged a
decades-long struggle for independence
from Rangoon.

"The Burmese propaganda says there's no fighting in Burma," said
Able Tweed, foreign relations officer for the Karenni National
Progressive Party.

"But there is no peace in Burma. We can hear the mortars and
machine guns."

Tweed said on telephone from his office-in-exile in Mae Hong Son,
a Thai town 25 km southwest of the Karenni base lying just across
the Thai-Burmese border.

Burmese troops have used artillery and mortars to capture two of
the area's three strategically important hills since they
launched their attack late on Monday.

Burmese commanders, he said, "have been instructed to finish us
all off _ to kill and capture as many as they can."

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

Karenni units push Burmese off hill

Bkk Post/11.1.96

BURMESE troops continued their offensive against ethnic Karenni
rebels yesterday, but a force of 400 guerrillas recaptured and
held out at a stronghold they called "Rambo Hill."

About 1,600 Burmese soldiers shelled Karenni positions as the
Rangoon government sought to crush one of the last groups
blocking its effort to control all of Burma.

The Burmese military stepped up its campaign against the Karenni
after imposing a peace settlement on opium warlord Khun Sa and
his ethnic Shan army, which controlled an area immediately north
of the Karenni enclave. The Karenni, like the Shan, have waged a
decades-long struggle for independence from Rangoon.

"The Burmese propaganda says there's no fighting in Burma," said
Abel Tweed, foreign relations officer for the Karenni National
Progressive Party.

"But there is no peace in Burma. We can hear the mortars and
machineguns."

Tweed spoke by telephone from his office-in-exile in Mae Hong
Son, 25 kilometres southwest of the Karenni base lying just
across the Thai-Burmese border.

Burmese troops have used 120mm artillery and mortars to capture
three of the area's strategically important hills since they
launched their attack late on Monday. But after a five-hour
battle, Karenni guerrillas retook the tallest peak, dubbed Rambo
Hill, after the one-man army popularised by Hollywood actor
Sylvester Stallone.

Burmese reinforcements were arriving to help in the assault,
Tweed said.

Burmese commanders, he said, "have been instructed to finish us
all off _ to kill and capture as many as they can.

A senior Thai border police officer said the region's rugged
terrain favoured the defenders. The officers said his men were
preparing to evacuate Thai civilians from the area if fighting
spilt across the border. Eight mortar shells have landed on Thai
soil, police said.

More than 1,500 Karenni refuges have crossed the border into
Thailand since the assault began.

In Chiang Rai, the local security chief said yesterday that
measures were in place to cope with Burmese-Karenni clashes.

The border remained tense but the clashes were unlikely to spill
across the border, said Col Chusak Anuchornphan, commander of
Chiang Rai's internal security operations office.

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

Development Of Moei River area to be proposed

The Nation/1.1.96

Thailand will propose to Burma that a problem section of the Moei
River flowing between Thailand's Mae Sot district and Burma' s
border town of Myawaddi be turned into a joint development area,
a government source said yesterday.

Burmese officials have charged that land reclamation along the
river by Thai villagers had altered its normal course at Burma's
expense.

Under the proposal mooted by a committee to settle border
disputes along the Moei River and endorsed by the Cabinet
yesterday, the construction of the Thai-Burmese friendship bridge
in the vicinity will resume and the border checkpoint there will
re-open while the waterway is returned to its previous course as
requested by Burmese authorities.

The committee said the recreation of the waterway would take time
and the sensitive matter should be dealt with carefully.

Burmese authorities at Myawaddi, infuriated by the reclamation of
land along the river bank on the Thai side, last year ordered the
construction of the bridge to be suspended.

They also asked Thai villagers to move out of the reclaimed areas
and Thai authorities to recreate the river's original waterway,
which deviated from its 1992 course when a new island emerged as
a result of the land reclamation.

According to the source, Thai border authorities have yet to
begin reshaping the river bank, pending a reaction from the
Burmese side on the latest proposal.

The committee has asked Deputy Interior Minister Suchart
Tancharoen to probe the Burmese position and the Foreign
Ministry's Department of Treaties and Legal Affairs to summon
Burmese Ambassador to Thailand Tin Muang Winn and the country's
military liaison for consultations on the matter.

Thai villagers in Mae Sot have also been informed by district
authorities to keep the problem area free from commercial
activity until after the dispute is resolved.

The Cabinet yesterday noted progress in the relocation of
vendors' stalls from the river bank to an area further back from
the river as requested by Burmese authorities

Vendors will move to a nearby location previously used as a
customs checkpoint and will be given one-year leases for new
stalls. the source said.

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

India, Burma meet on drugs

United Press International
The nation/11.1.96

NEW DELHI _ Indian officials met with representatives of
neighbouring Burma on Tuesday to talk about curbing the illegal
drug trade between the two countries, reports said.

The talks are aimed at boosting cooperation between the
countries' respective intelligence networks to stem the flow 
of heroin from Southeast Asia into India a spokesman for the
Indian government said.

The so-called "Golden Triangle" Laos, Thailand and Burma _ is the
world's major centre for producing heroin.

The narcotics are frequently smuggled across the Indo-Burmese
border into India and then sent to Western countries. Indian
officials say heroin has an international market value of
US$2300,000 per kilogramme.

During a recent visit to India, a top British official said most
of the heroin reaching his country comes through India and
Pakistan.

Last week, Burma's army occupied the headquarters of one of the
country's major drug lords Khun Sa and on Monday thousands of
soldiers from his private army officially surrendered.

****************************************************************  
 
Renegades kill crippled Karen veteran in Tak

Tak
Bkk Post/12.1.96

THE paralysed former senior general of the Karen National Union
was shot dead after being dragged from his home by Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army rebels at a refugee camp in Tha Song Yang
district. 

Maj-Gen Hta Lue, 71, the Karen National Liberation Army's
former quartermaster-general, was shot by DKBA forces as he tried
to resist a suspected kidnap attempt at Mae La camp between
59-60km on the Mae Ramat-Tha Song Yang highway.
          

Aye Shee, Maj-Gen Hta Lue's wife, said five Karen rebels knocked
at the door at about 12.30 a.m., and forced the men out of the
house and detained them.

Then they dragged Maj-Gen Hta Lue from Isis bedroom and tried to
force him to walk from the house.

The general was unable to walk and although his wife pleaded with
the soldiers to spare him, a rebel shot him in his chest with an
M16 rifle killing him instantly.

Baw Lay, the general's son-in-law, said he saw at least 20 DKBA
rebels at the scene with five RPG rocket launchers.

After leaving the house, he and other men who were detained were
ordered not to move.

He said he saw a Karen guerrilla shoot a pick-up truck with his
M16 rifle and then he heard gun shots from the house.

Thai border officials said the DKBA gunmen wanted to take
Maj-Gen Hta Lue back to Burma as a hostage to force Col Bena, a
KNU commander and also his son, to join the DKBA in pressing
Karen refugees to return to Burma.

Shortly before Wednesday's murder about 40 DKBA forces seized a
Karen at Ban Mae La Yang and ordered him to guide them to the Mae
Ramat-Tha Song Yang highway. The Soldiers apparently continued
walking on to the general's house.

On their return to Burma the DKBA rebels also robbed a Karen's
grocery and took rice and preserved food with them the officers
said.

The DKBA broke away from the KNU in December 1994 and joined
Burmese government forces against their former comrades.

Over the past year DKBA units have frequently crossed the
Thai-Burmese frontier and attacked Karen refugees in Thailand,
most of whom are KNU supporters.

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

Fears for Burmese troupe held after Suu Kyi party

AMNESTY International has expressed fears for the safety of eight
people arrested in Mandalay after performing last week at a party
at the Rangoon home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a statement the human rights monitor-said nothing had been
heard of the eight since they were arrested by Burmese military
intelligence unit 16 on their return to Mandalay Sunday.

The statement described them as members of a dance troupe
performing at private Independence Day celebrations January 4.

An informed source told AFP they had made a series of off-the-
cuff satirical remarks about the political situation in Burma
during a pwe, or traditional performance by musicians, dancers
and comedians.

Suu Kyi, realising the jokes might ruffle official feathers, said
at the end of the performance that she accepted responsibility if
there were any repercussions, the source added.

"Amnesty International fears for the safety" of the eight, the
statement said noting that torture and ill-treatment were "common
both during interrogation a nd after sentencing. " and that
prison conditions were poor.

Among the eight were comedian Par Lay, also known as Pa Pa, who
was released last year after 18 months' detention for his satire
of the military government, and his wife, dancer Win Mai.

Amnesty International called for the eight to be "released
immediately and unconditionally if they have been arrested solely
for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and
association."

Suu Kyi has called repeatedly for dialogue with the ruling junta.
On Tuesday the state-run media carried a commentary suggesting
that Suu Kyi had herself thwarted chances for dialogue by
encouraging "external pressure" on Rangoon.

Saying the military leadership "may yet be contemplating such a
dialogue, warned her against "foolishly" antagonising authorities
with "strident demands and invectives. _ AFP

*****************************************************************
Karenni defenders unlikely to keep Burmese off Rambo Hill

Bkk Post/12.1.96

KARENNI rebels battling an overwhelming force of Burmese soldiers
at Rambo Hill won't be able to hold out much longer, Border
Patrol Police said yesterday.

Karenni fighters recaptured the peak near the Thai border after
fierce fighting on Wednesday. Rambo Hill is the tallest of three
strategic peaks in the area.

But the Burmese army, determined to wrest control of the nation's
borders and crush one of the last remaining ethnic groups
fighting the Government, renewed their assault yesterday.

A BPP official said that the Karenni, despite the advantage of
holding the high ground, would not be able to hold out against
superior numbers. The fighting was almost finished, he said.

A determined force of 400 Karenni guerrillas is struggling to
stave off about 2,600 Burmese soldiers as shells rain down on
their position, Abel Tweed, foreign affairs officer of the
Karenni National Progressive Party, said in a telephone interview
with AP from Mae Hong Son.

Tweed said that about 1,000 Burmese troops are reinforcements
from Shan State, north of Kayah State where the Karenni live. The
Burmese recently forged a ceasefire with opium warlord Khun Sa,
allowing them to redeploy some of their army.

Tweed said about 70 Burmese soldiers had been killed from their
own poorly-aimed mortar fire.

"If Karenni fighters lose Rambo Hill, they'll scatter into the
surrounding jungle," Tweed said. "The Burmese cannot chase us
everywhere.

We will continue our guerrilla fight.

Tweed said the guerrillas would not seek refuge in Thailand. The
BPP reported Wednesday that 1,500 Karenni villagers had already
crossed the border.

The Karenni signed a ceasefire agreement with the military
government last May, after battling for autonomy for more than 30
years. Late last year they declared the ceasefire null and void,
saying the Burmese had violated its terms.

While the Burmese generally grant economic autonomy to ethnic
groups that sign ceasefires, the Karenni said that the Burmese
military demanded they cede control of the valuable timber trade
with Thailand. When they refused, the Army renewed its attacks. _ 
AP

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

Slorc noose tightens around the Karennis

KNPP finds its back against the wall as Rangoon pours troops into
Kayah state, Aung Zaw writes.

The Nation/12.1.96

Karenni rebels in Burma's eastern state of Kayah are battling for
their survival as government forces advance on the last border
strongholds of their decades-old insurgency.

"People are focusing on Khun Sa, but the Burmese are killing us,"
said one high-ranking official from the Karenni National
Progressive Party, referring to the surrender last week of the
infamous drug lord in Shan state.

"They are using Chinese-made weapons and big cannons," he said.

Heavy fighting between the Karennis and the government erupted on
Christmas eve after several months of sporadic clashes. KNNP
officials said the upsurge in hostilities coincided with the
arrival of reinforcements to join some 3,600 government troops
who had been deployed in Kayah since June, when a three-month-old
truce collapsed.

The KNPP has less than 1,000 men under arms, but Karenni
officials said they were putting up strong resistance. ' Slorc
thought they could put them down by July but didn't," said an
observer on the Thai-Burma border.

However, government forces have captured many of the KNPP's
outposts in the last two weeks prompting a Thai observer at the
border to predict, "The KNPP will be wiped out very soon." He
said the Karennis were now holding only two major posts.

Since Khun Sa opened the gates of his Homong headquarters to
Burmese soldiers over the New Year and surrendered strategic
positions on Doi Lang mountain, the KNPP forces have been
particularly vulnerable because they are now flanked by Burmese
troops on three sides. ''It won't take a day to walk from the
Khun Sa-controlled area," said a KNPP spokesman. He predicted
that Slorc will use Khun Sa's territory to attack the Karennis.

AFP reported that the situation in Kayah was quiet Wednesday,
following heavy fighting in which the rebels recaptured a key
base near Thailand identified as Ran Bo Hill.

Karenni officials said that some 1,600 Burmese government
soldiers were occupying low-lying areas near Mae Hong Son and
facing off with between 400-500 Karenni troops holding the higher
ground.

As Burmese troops advanced on the remaining Karenni outposts,
which are close to the Thai border province of Mae Hong Song,
Thailand stepped up border security. Approximately 3,000 Karenni
refugees have already fled to the border and Thai officials are
concerned more refugees could follow as a result of the fighting.

The KNPP spokesman said the Karennis are ready to resume talks
with Rangoon if they are based on equality and mutual
understanding.

"We are trying to survive because we cannot surrender," he told
AFP, adding that the Burmese junta intended to move the Karenni
out of Kayah state and into areas of Burma where government
control was consolidated.

"They [Slorc leaders] claim peace has been restored in the
country but it is not true. Come and see and you will hear
gunfire all the time," another senior Karenni official said.

KNPP leaders say that the breakdown in peace followed pressure
from Slorc for the Karennis to abandon their armed struggle and
unconditionally surrender. In reply, the Karennis sent a
statement on June 20 asking the Slorc leaders to respect its
previous agreement and show sincerity. Slorc, according to
Karenni officials, was enraged. Outside observers at the time,
however, blamed the fighting on differences over the rich teak
forests in the KNPP's zone of control.

Karenni sources revealed that the recent fighting followed the
failure of a Karenni peace mission in November.

In Rangoon, the KNPP delegation, which was led by Khu Mu Ral, met
with deputy chief of military intelligence Col Kyaw Win. It was
the KNPP's second peace mission to Rangoon after the collapse of
the ceasefire agreement.

The delegation asked military officials to withdraw from
Karenni-controlled areas, to halt their military actions, stop
using forcedlabour, and end their attempts to expand their
military presence in Kayah State.

But Slorc's only reply was a demand for the KNPP to surrender and
come back to legal fold. Col Kyaw Win also told them previous
agreement meant only surrendering not really ceasefire. "If we
[Slorc] say 'surrender' it is bad in public opinion so we say
ceasefire," a Karenni official quoted Col Kyaw Win as saying.

Khu Mu Ral refused.

Around the same time, Slorc sent out more troops to areas
controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), the last armed
ethnic group still resisting Rangoon's control. In December, the
KNU sent a delegation to Rangoon led by Padoh Saw Klee Say. At
first, the delegation met Col Kyaw Win in Moulmein, Mon state,
from where they headed to Rangoon to attend Karen New Year
festivities.

The delegation also held talks with Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, secretary
one of Slorc. According to an inside source, Khin Nyunt
reportedly told the Karens not to support democracy groups which
are based along the border. A Karen officer said nothing
substantive came of the talks.

KNU officials predicted Slorc was preparing to attack soon. Gen
Maung Aye, vice-chairman of SLORC is reportedly keen to crush the
remaining KNU. "Maung Aye prefers to fight while the others still
want to talk", said the source."

Aung Zaw is a freelance journalist He contributed this article to
The Nation

*****************************************************************
Khun Sa: Man with 'friends' in high places

With all that he allegedly knows about military complicity in the
narcotics trade, Slorc is unlikely to let the drug baron testify
outside Burma, Aung Zaw writes.

The Nation/12.1.96

When Washington announced last week a US$2 million reward for,
information leading to the arrest of Khun Sa, Burma watchers
joked that the amount was trifling compared to the money the drug
baron could use to bribe Rangoon officials to let him stay in
Burma.

Allegations of collusion between some government officials and
Khun Sa, who recently surrendered to the ruling junta, are not
new but they have gained new currency as the world waits to see
what the Rangoon will do with self-styled Shan nationalist.

Karenni insurgent leaders, who are currently locked in a round of
fierce fighting with government troops, said Khun Sa has a
long-history of close ties with the Burmese Army.

A Karenni official who requested anonymity said: "The Burmese
never really fought Khun Sa, they only shot at the sky.

The high-ranking official alleged some regional army officers had
been given a large amount of cash by the drug kingpin.

"Khun Sa gave [former Eastern Army commanders] seven million
kyats per year," said the Karenni officer. He claimed it was
these payments that explains why Burmese generals live such lives
of luxury.

In a recent interview with the BBC World Service, Karen leader
Gen Bo Mya echoed the Karenni allegations.

"They [Khun Sa and Slorc] have had an 5 'understanding' for many
years," he said, alleging that former ruler Gen Ne Win had turned
a blind eye to Khun Sa's drug trade activities.

They [Burmese government] have got 10 helicopters from the US [to
eliminate drug business and Khun Sa] and money. They did not
attack Khun Sa but only attacked us."

In 1974, the US government provided rockets, M79 grenades,
automatic rifles and Bell 205 helicopters for suppressing the
narcotic drugs trade and illegal cultivation and production of
opium but ethnic insurgents say they were never used for drug
suppression.

In 1984, according to journalist Bertil Lintner and other Burma
observers, Khun Sa and the then Eastern Commander of the Burmese
Army, Brig Gen Aye San made a deal.

The Burmese Army offered Khun Sa free trade in opium and its
derivatives if undertook to use his troops trained for jungle
warfare against the minority insurgent groups and communist
guerrillas," Lintner wrote.

Again, in 1987 when Thai and Burmese forces launched a "fierce
attack' on the headquarters of Khun Sa, local Thai and Burmese
newspapers claimed the campaign a huge success. Khun Sa
reportedly told a visiting foreign guest at the time that it was
just a newspaper war. Linter wrote in his book, Burma in Revolt,
that Khun Sa's Homong headquarters suffered no damage as a result
of the attack.

Khun Sa said both Thai and Burmese military officials came to
meet him [in early 1987].

"They said they stood to lose millions of dollars in US drugs
suppression funds unless they made it look like they were doing
something. So they worked out a deal. Khun Sa agreed to let them
come up to the border and fire off their guns and a few rockets
in to the air, so that they could claim that they were doing
their part in fighting this "monster".

But it appears time has run out on the "monster". He is wanted by
the US and Thailand and has been indicted on drug charges in a
New York. He has lost military outposts to the rival Wa army,
which is backed by Slorc. His Mong Tai Army has been rocked by
defections and simmering discontent. between the mostly Shan
footsoldiers and predominantly Chinese leadership has weakened
his military strength.

As a result it appears Khun Sa decided to make a deal with his
"former friends" who can offer him safety and the possibility of
continuing his drug activities.

Analysts also believe that despite his troubles the drug baron
holds still holds a trump card.

"Khun Sa can blackmail people if he wants," one analyst said. "He
has a long list of people who have been involved in the drug
business. They include politicians, businessmen and government
officials. Hence, officials cannot put him on trial, if they do,
Khun Sa can finger them all," he said.

In recent years, Slorc officials have repeatedly claimed that
Khun Sa is nothing more than a drug dealer and common criminal.

But after his surrender, US officials asked Burmese authorities
to handover Khun Sa so he could be tried in the US and the
Burmese refused. A Burmese military official told Reuter's:
"There will be no extradition to the US ... he [Khun Sa] will
{definitely tried in Rangoon,, 100 per cent sure."

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

Burma asked to free comics

The Nation/12.1.96

AMNESTY International yesterday called on the Burmese government
to release "immediately and unconditionally" eight performers
arrested last week for publicly poking fun at the political
situation.

According to a statement released yesterday by the London-based
human rights watchdog, eight members of the dance troupe Myo Daw
Win Mar Anyeini were arrested in Mandalay on the evening of Jan 7
after returning from a Jan 4 performance celebrating the
country's independence day.

The performance was held in the compound of Aung San Suu Kyi, who
leads Burma's main opposition party, the National League for
Democracy.

"The troupe ... evidently made some frank jokes about the
political situation in the course of their performance. When the
dance troupe returned to their home in Mandalay, they were
arrested by members of Military Intelligence Unit 16," the
statement said.

Officials at the Ministry of Information in Rangoon declined to
comment on the statement yesterday.

In an interview with The Nation, Amnesty International officials
in London said it was not known what charges, if any, have been
brought against the performers, who have not been heard from
since their arrest.

The group called on the Burmese government to immediately release
the Burmese government to immediately release the dancers "if
they have been arrested solely for exercising their rights to
freedom of expression and association.

"Amnesty International - is concerned for the well-being of the
eight performers, because torture and ill-treatment are common
both during interrogation and after sentencing," the statement
said.

The Rangoon government has consistently denied allegation of
human rights abuse from the international community and rights
organizations.

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Renegades kill ex-KNU leader

Reuter
The Nation/12.1.96

MAE SOT _ Renegade members of a rebel group from Burma crossed
into * Thailand and executed a veteran Karen guerrilla leader
living in a refugee camp, Thai police said yesterday.

Maj Gen Hta Lue was shot and killed in Mae La refugee camp early
yesterday after about 40 members of a splinter faction of e Karen
group tried to force him to accompany them back to Burma, the
border patrol police officer said.

Hta Lue, a retired central committee member of the Karen National
Union (KNU), was killed after he argued with the gunmen had
dragged him from his house and were apparently trying to take him
back to Burma as a hostage because his son is a KNU commander,
the Thai officer said.

The splinter faction, the Democratic _Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA),
was formed by Karen fighters who fought the predominantly
Christian KNU leadership and joined Burmese government forces
against their former comrades.

DKBA units regularly cross the porous Thai-Burmese frontier arid
attack Karen refugees in Thailand, most of whom are KNU
supporters.

The KNU has been fighting for autonomy since 1949.

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Typed by the Research Department of the ABSDF [MTZ}    12.1.96

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