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Burmese troops set to attack rebel

Subject: Burmese troops set to attack rebel camp

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<font size=5><b>Burmese troops set to attack rebel camp<br>
<i>Embassy raiders 'sheltering there'<br>
<br>
</font></b></i><font size=3>Military units from Burma are preparing to
attack the area where five militants who seized the Burmese embassy in
Bangkok are believed to be sheltering, an ethnic rebel spokesman said
yesterday.<br>
About 700 soldiers have been mobilised in an area opposite Suan Phung
district in Thailand's Ratchaburi province, said an officer of the Karen
National Union, speaking on condition of anonymity.<br>
The KNU is the last major ethnic resistance force still in open armed
resistance to the military junta ruling Burma.<br>
The officer said a KNU unit near the Thai-Burmese border intercepted a
government radio message about the move.<br>
His account could not be independently confirmed.<br>
Meanwhile, Thai troops of the 7th Infantry Regiment Task Force conducted
an exercise along the border with Burma in Muang district of Mae Hong Son
yesterday.<br>
The exercise took place near a camp holding about 15,000 Karen refugees
at Ban Pang Khwai in Tambon Pang Mu, while on the other side of the
border Burmese soldiers stood deployed to enforce strict border
closure.<br>
Because Burmese rebel groups operate very close to the border, any combat
risks spilling over into Thailand, and sending refugees across the
border.<br>
The report comes at a time of diplomatic tension between Thailand and
Burma over the embassy incident.<br>
The KNU officer said the intercepted radio message indicated Burmese
troops were heading towards Kamaplaw, an area where a Karen splinter
faction, the &quot;Army of God,&quot; is operating. The faction is
believed to have given refuge to the embassy invaders.<br>
He said another unit is believed to be heading towards the KNU's 4th
Brigade area, opposite Thailand's Kanchanaburi province.-Bangkok Post, AP
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</font><font size=5><b>3,000 stranded by closure of border<br>
</font><font size=3>Supamart Kasem<br>
Mae Sot,Tak<br>
</b>More than 3,000 illegal Burmese immigrants have been left stranded in
this northern border town because authorities in Myawaddy will not allow
their repatriation following the Burmese embassy siege at the start of
this month.<br>
Pol Maj Preecha Suwansorn, an immigration police inspector, said the
Burmese immigrants were arrested in Mae Sot, Mae Ramat and Phop Phra
districts over the past week and were due to be repatriated.<br>
However, Myawaddy authorities told their Thai counterparts they had
received an order from Rangoon to suspend the repatriation until the
border was reopened.<br>
Burma has indefinitely closed the border following the embassy
siege.<br>
About one half of those to be repatriated have stayed in Mae Sot at their
former factories, or at the houses of relatives. Others remain in border
villages.<br>
Thai authorities lack funding to keep the immigrants at the holding area
for repatriation in Mae Sot.<br>
A border source some Burmese immigrants who defied the closure order by
sneaking across the border had been arrested and put into jail.<br>
On Thursday, about 100 Burmese crossed the border to Mae Sot to buy
goods. Sixty of them were arrested on their return, sent to a military
camp in Myawaddy for questioning and ordered to be detained for six
months without trial. The rest managed to flee back to Thailand.<br>
On the same day, Burmese soldiers forced a boat taking 57 Burmese
immigrants to Ban Huay Muang to return to the Thai side of the Moei
river. However, some of them were allowed to return to their homeland
after paying 3,000 kyats to a group of Burmese men to take them across
the river.<br>
Hasala Bi, 20, from Rangoon, said she was sent to Mae Sot from Bangkok on
Saturday to be repatriated but had no money to pay the group.<br>
Pol Maj Preecha said he had reported the problem to the Immigration
Police Bureau in Bangkok.<br>
Meanwhile, in Kamphaengphet, about 200 representatives of chambers of
commerce of nine provinces in the Lower North resolved at a meeting
yesterday to call for the government to negotiate with Burma for the
reopening of the border. They said Interior Minister Sanan Kachornprasart
and his adviser Gen Chettha Thanajaro should direct the proposal to
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of the State Peace and Development
Council.<br>
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