SLORC ALERT AT THAI BORDER TO STAY

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: SLORC ALERT AT THAI BORDER TO STAY AS KARENS STILL A THREAT


    REUTER 5/3



     YANGON -- The Myanmar government said yesterday that the Karen National
Union
     (KNU) rebel organisation was still a threat and it planned to keep
troops at the
     Thai-Myanmar border where the KNU is based as long as necessary. 

     "The KNU can still be a threat to the government," senior intelligence
official Colonel
     Kyaw Thein told a monthly news conference. 

     He said Myanmar forces which have been involved in more than 100 border
battles
     since last month will remain as long as necessary to fight the last
major ethnic group yet
     to sign a ceasefire agreement with Yangon. 

     Myanmar troops sacked KNU mobile bases in the eastern part of the
country last
     month in attacks which sent thousands of refugees and guerillas
scurrying for shelter
     into Thailand. 

     Col Kyaw Thein said a total of 115 skirmishes had taken place in two
separate areas
     along the border, killing nearly 100 KNU and government troops and
wounding 85. 

     Officials said the troop movements should not harm relations between
Thailand and
     Myanmar because the two sides had reached an understanding over the
border action. 

     "There shall not be any effect on the continuing bilateral relations
between Myanmar
     and Thailand," Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw said. 

     "Before any action was taken, we kept the Thai authorities informed of
the intended
     action. We have not intended to hurt the bilateral relations and the
Thai government
     understands it very well," he said. 

     The KNU, formed in 1948, has rejected several peace overtures from the
Yangon
     military government. -- Reuter.