Thai-Myanmar standoff eases.

[082903@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

		Thai-Myanmar standoff eases 
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     [By Edward Tang, Thailand Correspondent] 

     BANGKOK -- Tension at the Thai-Myanmar border eased slightly 
yesterday, as
     negotiators from both sides prepared to meet after a boundary 
dispute last week led to
     the deployment of troops within metres of each other. 

     "Tension has subsided although soldiers from both sides have yet to 
be withdrawn from
     the area," a Thai Foreign Ministry official told The Straits Times 
yesterday. He
     confirmed press reports that at some disputed sections of the Moei 
River, a kilometre
     north of the Friendship Bridge near Mae Sot in Tak province, 
opposing troops were
     only 5 m apart from each other in the tense standoff. 

     Thai Army Chief Chetta Thanajaro was reported yesterday to have 
ordered his troops
     to exercise restraint, while Lieutenant-General Thanom Watcharaputr, 
Commander of
     the Third Army, told reporters that Thai troops would stay until the 
dispute was settled.

     Meanwhile, negotiators led by a senior Thai Foreign Ministry 
official were expected to
     meet their counterparts yesterday to calm the situation, which was 
sparked off by
     Myanmar's sudden deployment of workers and heavy machinery last 
Friday to dredge
     an area where the river once flowed. 

     Because of a flood two years ago, the Moei River diverted from its 
original course to
     flow along a new one which cuts inwards into portions of Myanmar. 
The change in
     course created an islet which could be claimed by Thailand, 
according to the 1868
     Siam-British treaty. 

     According to the Thai official, the treaty, signed when Myanmar 
belonged to the
     British, used the respective river banks to demarcate the boundary 
for the two sides.
     But the treaty was vague as to how the river itself was to be 
divided. Myanmar's action
     last week, designed to restore the tributary to its former course, 
drew angry protests
     from its neighbour, which claimed that the dredging breached an 
understanding to allow
     the river to take its natural course. 

     The situation was further aggravated by Myanmar sending 60 troops to 
the area on
     Saturday to protect the workers. Thailand reacted by sending Thai 
troops backed by
     helicopters and armoured personnel carriers. 

     A picture on the front page of the Bangkok Post newspaper yesterday 
showed Thai
     soldiers planting their national flag on the islet while a Myanmar 
soldier, just metres
     away, looked on. 

     It was learnt that Myanmar had agreed yesterday to stop work 
temporarily while
     officials from both sides inspected the area. 

     The latest dispute came just two weeks after Thai Prime Minister 
Chavalit
     Yongchaiyudh visited Myanmar. The trip was touted as a success as 
both sides were
     reported to have agreed to settle the problems along their 
2,400-km-long shared
     border. 

[The Straits Times, 28 May 1997].

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