NEWS - Ethnic Civilians Victims of

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Subject: NEWS -  Ethnic Civilians Victims of Myanmar Army

Amnesty International: Ethnic Civilians Victims of Myanmar Army

               AP
               30-JUN-99

               BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Civilians from three ethnic
               groups have been tortured and killed in a relocation
               campaign by Myanmar's military, Amnesty International
said
               today. 

               The London-based human rights group said the impact of
               the campaign was being felt in countries neighboring
               Myanmar, also known as Burma, as refugees continue
               spilling into Thailand, India and Bangladesh. 

               "The Burmese army has devastated the lives of thousands
of
               Shan, Karen and Karenni people by targeting them simply
               because of their ethnicity or perceived beliefs," Amnesty
               International said. 

               The rights group charged that during the past three
years,
               hundreds of thousands of villagers have been forcibly
               relocated as part of a military campaign to cut off
civilian
               support for the rebels. 

               Villagers found outside settlement areas supervised by
the
               military have been shot on sight. 

               "Many have been killed, others tortured and thousands
have
               fled to neighboring countries. It is civilians, not armed
               insurgents, who have suffered the vast majority of
casualties
               in these conflicts," it said. 

               Amnesty International said it based its findings on
interviews
               with more than 100 ethnic refugees from Myanmar. 

               A Myanmar government spokesman, speaking on customary
               condition of anonymity, said the refugees interviewed
were
               family members and sympathizers of "armed ethnic
terrorist
               groups." 

               He defended forced relocations of villagers as "temporary
               when necessary and done to protect them from being
               terrorized by the armed insurgent groups." 

               Myanmar is a fractious and diverse nation of eight major
               ethnic groups. Successive governments have had difficulty
               reconciling their interests. 


               The military government says the divisions are a legacy
of
               British colonial rule, but the country's democratic
opposition
               has said the continuing insurgencies are set off by the
               military's determination to resolve differences by force.