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5.12.96: SLORC PUTTING PRESSURE ON



Subject: 5.12.96: SLORC PUTTING PRESSURE ON THE KNU


KNU leader Bo Mya rejects SLORC's: surrender offer
5.12.96/Thailand Times

TAK Burma' s military junta has delivered an ultimatum to the
Karen rebels yesterday, demanding they surrender unconditionally,
a Thai military source said yesterday.

The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) recently sent
an ultimatum to Gen Bo Mya, leader of the Karen National Union
(KNU), demanding that his group lay down their arms and give up
fighting the military government.

The SLORC also demanded the KNU sign a peace agreement with the
government as other minority groups the Kachin and Mon  have done
and cooperate in developing the country.

Rangoon's ultimatum came days after the latest
round of peace talk with the KNU failed to reach substantial
progress.

According to the source, who asked not to him, the SLORC has
offered to provide accommodation, private car and maids in
Rangoon to Bo Mya like other minority group leaders, should he
agrees to surrender.

However, the source said, the KNU leader rejected the  demands
and vowed never to surrender.

Meanwhile, a KNU senior official has welcomed an idea to have
Thai army chief Gen Chettha Thanajaro act as middleman between
the two sides, but confirmed the KNU still clings to its original
demands.

The KNU's demands include setting up of territory under its
control and equal rights for the Karen people.

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

	ASIA: TROOPS BREAK UP BURMA PROTEST WITH WATER CANNONS
BURMA STUDENTS LEAD
   By Vithoon Amorn of Reuters
	   RANGOON, Dec 7 Reuter - Burmese troops and riot police rounded 
up scores of university students after firing water cannons to 
break up an 11-hour street protest in the capital Rangoon early 
today, witnesses said.
	   They said troops and police rounded up about 120 students 
sitting at the centre of the junction near the University of Yangon 
(Rangoon) after using water cannons from fire engines to subdue the 
protest at about 3 am (0730 AEDT).
	   They said some students were clubbed and injured by batons while 
they were put into three vehicles believed to be heading for the 
maximum security Insein Prison in suburban Rangoon.
	   The student street protest was the second major one this week in 
the capital.
	   On Monday, up to 2,000 students from Yangon University and the 
troubled Yangon Institute of Technology held the biggest street 
demonstration in Rangoon since mass pro-democracy uprisings were 
crushed in 1988.
	   About 15 of those detained at the junction, which lies on the 
fringes of the city, were female students, witnesses said.
	   They said that before troops and police moved in, the students 
were warned to disperse peacefully so the authorities could sort 
out the "political agitators" from the protesters.
	   Fire engines shot water cannons for about 20 minutes and police 
chased some students who tried to escape, witnesses said.
	   The protesting students were demanding rights to organise 
independent unions on campuses and the release of about 80 student 
leaders currently in jail.
	   They were part of about 500 students who earlier started 
demonstrating at the intersection yesterday afternoon.
	   Yesterday, the students said the protests were non-political and 
they had no contact with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi or her 
National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
	   Earlier, a spokesman for Burma's ruling State Law and Order 
Restoration Council (SLORC) had said no action would be taken 
against the students.
	   The students said the protests on Monday and yesterday had been 
triggered by what they called unfair police handling of student 
brawl near a restaurant in October.
	   They said the government failed to respond to their demands.
	   The students had also sought a government pledge that the 
institute would not be closed because of the protests.
	   It was shut for nearly two years shortly after the 1988 
demonstrations.
	   Key NLD officials and Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, have 
denied any link with the students. But they have said there was a 
"moral link" between them in that they were against police 
brutality and injustice.
	   Yesterday, the road leading to Suu Kyi's lakeside residence in 
central Rangoon remained closed by police.
	   REUTER dm