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THE NATION - October 16, 1999



THE NATION - October 16, 1999

Headlines

Clashes on Thai-Burmese border

MAE HONG SON -- Thai border troops clashed with unidentified armed intruders
from Burma in two incidents on Thursday, forcing them to retreat, but their
identity is still uncertain, Thai military officials said yesterday.

It was the first clash following soured relations between Rangoon and
Bangkok because of the Oct 1-2 occupation of the Burmese Embassy that
prompted the Burmese government to seal its border with Thailand.

Thai Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-Gen Sanan Kajornklam said that one
shooting incident had taken place around 5.30 pm on Thursday when 15 armed
men crossed into Thai territory at Ban Huay Pueng in Mae Hong Son province.

''Our patrol troops found the intruders inside our territory about one
kilometre from the border. They fired warning shots. Both sides eventually
exchanged gunfire for 10 minutes, which led to the withdrawal [of the
intruders],'' Sanan said.

He said there had been no casualties on the Thai side.

Sanan said he suspected the attackers were ethnic guerillas who had been
used by the Burmese government to raid refugee camps in Thailand.

An officer in the Thai army task force in Mae Hong Son, 650 km north of
Bangkok, said on condition of anonymity that the intruders had been about
100 Burmese soldiers and that tensions remained high.

Third Army Corps Commander Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkasing surveyed the area
yesterday after the incident.

Burmese soldiers stationed over the border from Ban Huay Phung are
reportedly conducting troop rotation along the border, particularly in the
area over from the refugee camp of Ban Pang Saktuer on the Thai side.

The Thai side of the long border is dotted with camps housing some 100,000
refugees who have fled the Burmese army's suppression of rebel groups over
the past half-century. Most refugees support the rebels.

A military source in Mae Hong Son said yesterday that another clash had
taken place at about 2 pm on Thursday when 30 Burmese soldiers invaded Thai
territory, apparently to steal food from the Thai village of Ban Maisape.

The village, about 1.5 km from the frontier, is about 4 km north of a camp
for Burmese refugees, the source said.

The Burmese troops opened fire on a group of 20 uniformed Thai soldiers who
had moved into the area after a villager said troops had crossed into
Thailand, the source said.

The Thais returned fire with mortars and small arms, and both then exchanged
small-arms fire for about 10 minutes before the Burmese troops withdrew to
their base. There is so far no report of casualties, according to the
source.

The Defence Ministry spokesman, however, said he was not aware of the Ban
Maisape incident.

''The report to Bangkok only mentioned the incident at Ban Huay Pueng,'' he
said.

A Thai army battalion reinforced the area yesterday, a military officer said
on condition of anonymity.

A Burmese junta spokesman denied both incidents in a statement.

''No such incidents occurred anywhere on the Thai-[Burmese] border. [It is]
probably a fabrication designed to coincide with Mr de Soto's visit to
[Burma],'' he said.

United Nations special envoy Alvaro de Soto arrived in Burma on Thursday on
a five-day mission expected to focus on political reforms.

Ethnic-minority leaders and Thai intelligence officials on the border
earlier reported a build-up of Burmese troops opposite Mae Hong Son and
speculated they might be preparing to attack refugee camps.

They said the move could be designed as retaliation for the 25-hour seizure
earlier this month of Rangoon's Bangkok embassy by pro-democracy gunmen.

Rangoon closed the border after Thailand bowed to the five gunmen's demands
for a helicopter to transport them to the border. The gunmen disappeared
after being flown to one of the camps on Oct 2, ending their occupation of
the Burmese Embassy, where they had taken 38 people hostage to demand
democratic rule in their homeland.

In Rangoon some 15,000 people took part in a government-organised
demonstration against terrorism and chanted slogans supporting the military
regime.

Trade and fishing between the two countries has come to a near-total
standstill.

Burma's ambassador has said the border closure will not be lifted until the
five hostage-takers are arrested and punished.

Burma said the Thai approach to the hostage-taking set a bad precedent that
would encourage similar actions but was also clearly irked by statements
from senior Thai officials who called the hostage-takers student fighters
for democracy rather than terrorists.

Pisanu Rienmahasarn, the Commerce Ministry's deputy director-general for
foreign trade, said border trade between the two countries had virtually
come to a standstill, estimating a loss of between Bt26 million and Bt30
million a day while the fishery industry was estimated to be losing about
Bt40 million a day.

Meanwhile Pol Lt-Gen Yothin Mathayomnant, commander of the Police Special
Branch, insisted the five armed Burmese were believed to be in hiding under
the protection of the God Army, a small splinter group of the Karen National
Union of Gen Bo Mya.

The group, made up of about 100 armed personnel, is based over the border
from Ratchaburi province.

The Nation, Agencies

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