AP-Myanmar Rebels Prepare for Defen

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Subject: AP-Myanmar Rebels Prepare for Defense

Friday January 1 5:45 AM ET

Myanmar Rebels Prepare for Defense
By DON PATHAN Associated Press Writer

CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) - Every year in Myanmar, when the rainy season
ends and roads to the eastern border dry out, rebellious ethnic minorities
anticipate a fresh army offensive aimed at crushing their independence.

The latest offensive appeared under way today as 1999 began, with skirmishes
reported as Myanmar's military government built up its forces and rag-tag
rebels formed a new alliance to oppose them. Government troops and ethnic
Karenni rebels exchanged small arms fire and mortar shells at dawn, Thai
military officials said.

``It's a matter of days before the fighting reaches the border area,'' said
Maj. Gen. Chamlong Photong, chief-of-staff of the Thai army along the border
with Myanmar.

The government in Yangon, the Myanmar capital, pursues a divide-and-conquer
strategy in an effort to rule the hodgepodge of ethnic groups arrayed along
the 1,500-mile Thai-Myanmar border.

More than 100,000 refugees from Myanmar, also known as Burma, live in border
camps inside Thailand. Many tell stories of rape, torture and forced labor
by Myanmar government troops.

The dry-season offensives usually end with a new wave of refugees fleeing
across the rugged frontier into Thailand. The army usually consolidates its
position, and the rebels generally win back some territory when monsoons
return around May.

Thailand expects to see a bigger Myanmar army offensive than usual this year
and is mobilizing its own troops to keep fighting from spilling over the
border.

Several Myanmar battalions have been deployed in the border area, the Thais
say. Thai military intelligence has reported clashes between ethnic groups
and government forces in recent days.

However, a Myanmar government official, speaking on condition of anonymity,
suggested that the reported buildup was exaggerated and that ``in countering
guerrilla tactics, one doesn't use huge manpower or heavy weapons.''

Facing Myanmar's forces are fractious rebel bands that have made and broken
deals with each other and the central government since the country gained
independence from Britain half a century ago.


Some groups produce and smuggle opium, heroin and amphetamines to raise
money for arms and for their personal wealth.

This year, one group, the Shan State Army, is trying to shed its image as a
tool of notorious drug lord Khun Sa, who surrendered in an amnesty deal to
the government three years ago.

Khun Sa wore two hats - as nationalist fighter for the Shan minority and as
one of the world's biggest heroin traffickers. His organization, the Mong
Tai Army, disbanded with his surrender.

The Shan State Army, a component of the Mong Tai Army, says it is now
composed purely of ethnic nationalists and is teaming up with the Karenni
National Progressive Party, a smaller organization not implicated in the
drug trade.

The Shan State Army has asked the United States and Thailand to help it
staunch the flow of drugs, and the Thais have welcomed their efforts.

The biggest achievement of Myanmar's current military rulers has been
signing cease-fires with most of the ethnic minorities in the mid-1990s,
even as it keeps up military pressure.

In December 1994, the army ousted the Karen National Union from their
longtime headquarters in the southeastern town of Manerplaw.

The government later reached a cease-fire with another southern group, the
New Mon State Army, allowing Yangon to build a $1.2 billion gas pipeline to
Thailand through their area.

The Karenni signed a cease-fire with the government in 1995, but the deal
broke down the following year over disputes involving the lucrative timber
trade.