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AFP : Myanmar FM thanks Thailand
- Subject: AFP : Myanmar FM thanks Thailand
- From: euburma@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 04 Oct 1999 08:19:00
Myanmar FM thanks Thailand after hostage crisis
BANGKOK, Oct 4 (AFP) - Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung on a brief
visit Monday thanked Thailand for peacefully solving the hostage crisis at
its embassy here. Win Aung conveyed the junta's appreciation in a meeting
with his Thai counterpart Surin Pitsuwan.
"He thanked the government for solving the problem without violence and
said Myanmar was satisfied," a foreign ministry spokesman said.
Five gunmen, claiming to be pro-democracy students, stormed the Myanmar
embassy here Friday, taking nearly 40 hostages and holding them for more
than 24-hours, before being supplied by Thailand with an escape helicopter
to the border.
In a statement released earlier in the day, the junta reserved special
venom for comments by Thailand's interior minister, Sanan Kachonprasart,
who after the hostage crisis ended called the gunmen "democracy fighters"
rather than terrorists.
"One wonders at any point during the entire siege of the embassy, if
the trigger-happy gunmen's ... activity resulted in death of not only the
embassy staff but families including children, can they still be regarded
as 'not terrorists, but students who are fighting for democracy'," the
statement said.
"It is still of grave concern to the diplomatic community around the
world to realise that armed terrorism if carried out under the pretext of a
certain disguise is acceptable ... There will be no effective way of
preventing terrorist activities being repeated and spawned."
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai said the country's anti-terrorist panel
would meet on Wednesday to discuss the crisis and the Ratchaburi detention
centre near the border with Myanmar. The centre is where the interior
ministry hold many students and others who have fled Myanmar. The gunmen
had asked to speak to a student leader being held there. Chuan said
measures needed to be taken to boost security, as intelligence agencies
here had no advance warning of the embassy raid. Foreign Ministry
spokesman Don Pramudhvinai said the closure of the border by Myanmar on
Saturday had been a security precaution and Thailand hoped to see it open
again soon. (AFP)
Thin Myat Thu (Thida) Tel: + 47 22 414143
Web Editor Fax: + 47 22 413929
Democratic Voice of Burma http://www.communique.no/dvb