AP-Thailand Hostages May Be Free

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Saturday October 2 6:57 AM ET

Thailand Hostages May Be Free
By THAKSINA KHAIKAEW Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Five armed rebels who seized the Myanmar Embassy
released dozens of hostages today and flew in a helicopter to the
Thai-Myanmar border, where they were allowed to go free, Thailand's interior
minister said.

The pro-democracy rebels released all 38 hostages, and another 51 Myanmar
citizens who had hidden inside the walled embassy compound were able to come
out, said Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart. Those who hid and escaped
the hostage-takers' notice were apparently embassy officials and others who
lived or attended school in the compound.

Sanan said at a news conference that two senior Thai officials who
volunteered to fly with the five young rebels as hostages were safe and on
their way back to Bangkok.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra and a senior refugee official,
Chaiyapruek Sawaengcharoen, were returning from the drop-off point about a
mile inside Thai territory from the frontier, Sanan said.

The rebels, who during the 26-hour takeover demanded a return to democracy
in their military-ruled homeland, deceived the Thais into thinking there
were more than a dozen of them inside the embassy.

``We have given them safe passage to their own country. We don't consider
them to be terrorists. They are student activists,'' said Sanan, who served
as one of the negotiators.

The five were armed with assault rifles and grenades but reportedly did not
mistreat any of the hostages, which he said included 10 foreigners.

Several of the foreigners chanted ``Free Burma'' and waved revolutionary red
headbands and flags as the rebels took off from a grassy playing field at
the Thai Air Force Academy. Myanmar is also known as Burma.

Thai authorities said they did not have a complete breakdown of the foreign
hostages but earlier, sometimes conflicting reports said they included
nationals of France, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Germany a
nd the United States.

``They were very nice. Everything is going to be fine. Free Burma,'' one of
the foreigners shouted to a reporter.

Speaking on a local radio station, the dissident group's leader, who
identified himself as Johnny, earlier said the rebels wanted to be flown to
the border area to join an unidentified ``revolutionary group.''

In a statement sent to news media, the dissidents - calling themselves the
Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors - demanded the release of all political
prisoners in their homeland, a meaningful dialogue between Myanmar's
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the military, and the convening of
an elected parliament.

Myanmar's government has refused to negotiate with Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Suu Kyi or to convene a parliament legally elected in 1990.

Witnesses said the rebels stormed through the embassy gate on Friday armed
with rifles and grenades they had hidden in guitar cases.

Gunshots were heard in the early hours of the siege, but there were no
reports of anyone being shot.

Dissident Myanmar groups, who operate largely along the Thai-Myanmar border,
worked to distance themselves from the takeover.

Naing Aung, chairman of the exile All Burma Students' Democratic Front, said
he had never heard of the group, and thought it may have been formed
specifically for the takeover.

The hostage-takers said in their statement they have no ties to any other
group.