Rangoon to take back refugees after

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Subject: Rangoon to take back refugees after fighting ends



              Yangon to take refugees back after fighting ends 


Straits Times 14/3
              MAE SOT -- Thai army chief Chettha Thanajaro crossed into
Myanmar on Wednesday to
              discuss border conditions and the return of some 100,000
mostly ethnic Karen refugees
              when fighting in the region ends. 

              General Chettha met General Maung Aye, the head of Myanmar's
military, and General Khin
              Nyunt, the First Secretary of the Myanmar junta, a day after a
Thai Foreign Ministry
              statement called for the return of the refugees as soon as
fighting stopped. 

              Human-rights organisations accused the junta of widespread
burning, looting and forced
              relocation of villages, as well as forced labour,
extra-judicial killings and rapes during its
              military campaign against the Karen rebels, launched last
month, AFP reported. 

              Gen Chettha confirmed after the talks that Thailand would give
refuge to all those fleeing
              serious fighting. He also denied accusations that the army
turned away refugees at the
              border and repatriated a group of women and children forcibly. 

              "All refugees -- women, children and unarmed men -- can cross
into Thailand, including
              members of ethnic forces, who will have to be unarmed before
entering Thai territory," he
              said. 

              The Thai army chief told reporters that during his talks
Yangon said it was ready to take
              back any individuals who could prove that they were from Myanmar. 

              AFP also reported that Yangon appeared to have won control of
almost all the territory still
              held by the Karen National Union, the only major armed ethnic
group which has not signed a
              ceasefire agreement with the ruling leadership. 

              Clashes continue in the region, but if the regime's attempts
succeed, it will be the first time
              the junta has controlled all of the mostly undemarcated 2,401
km border with Thailand. 

              In a separate report yesterday, The Bangkok Post said that
during the visit, Generals Chettha
              and Maung Aye inspected the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge. 

              Work on the bridge, which is almost 95 per cent completed,
resumed two weeks ago after
              it was suspended by the Myanmar junta in 1995. Officials
expect it to be finished and ready
              by May this year.