reuters report rebels lose more pos

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Subject: reuters report rebels lose more positions to slorc

care of Dawn Star, Paris

Tuesday March 12 10:26 AM EST
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<h2>Burma Rebels Lose More Positions to Government</h2>
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<p>
	    BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Heavily outnumbered Karenni
guerrillas in eastern Burma have lost more high ground in a
heavy air and ground onslaught by government troops but said on
Tuesday they would continue to wage a guerrilla campaign.
<p>
	    A guerrilla official said by telephone from near the
Thai-Burmese border in northwestern Thailand that government
troops had captured two more hill posts in heavy fighting on
Monday.
<p>
	    ``The SLORC took over two positions but our troops have gone
back in behind their lines to hit their communications,'' the
official told Reuters, referring to the ruling military body
known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).
<p>
	    The Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) official said
it was virtually impossible to defend high ground from heavy air
attacks and artillery bombardments, although the guerrillas were
still clinging to several posts on ridgelines near the Thai
border.
<p>
	    ``It's useless to defend some bases, we had to withdraw,''
he said. ``Although we've lost some positions we'll continue
guerrilla warfare. We'll never give up.''
<p>
	    Burmese air force PC-7 planes have bombed the guerrillas
every day since Saturday.
<p>
	    About 6,000 government troops have been attacking the
rag-tag force of an estimated 1,000 separatist rebels since late
December, shortly after the KNPP renounced a ceasefire agreed
with the government in March last year.
<p>
	    The guerrillas said government troops had suffered heavy
casualties in human-wave rushes against their fortified posts
while they had sustained only a handful of dead and wounded.
<p>
	    A Thai military source monitoring the fighting confirmed
government losses were heavier than those of the rebels.
<p>
	    The KNPP official said government troops have been ordered
to finish off the KNPP by March 27, Armed Forces Day in Burma.
<p>
	    Last year's ceasefire between Rangoon and Karenni
nationalist guerrillas, fighting for independence for almost 50
years, collapsed when government forces moved into their small
zone between the Salween river and the Thai border.
<p>
	    Both sides said at the time the ceasefire had broken down
because of competition for control of the rich teak forests in
the area.
<p>
	    Karenni representatives went to Rangoon in November in an
unsuccessful attempt to demand the withdrawal of government
troops and to renew the truce.
<p>
	    The rebels renounced the ceasefire the next month.
<p>
	    The Karenni are ethnic cousins of the more numerous Karen
people. Both Karen and Karenni guerrillas fought alongside
British commandos behind Japanese lines during World War Two.
<p>
	    Burma's military government has agreed ceasefires with 16
rebel armies since 1989 and, while many of the truces are seen
as fragile, the agreement with the KNPP is the only one to have
collapsed completely.
<p>
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