Burma & Khun Sa

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Thousands ready to flee opium warlord's stronghold
By Sutin Wannabovorn 

    BANGKOK, Oct 6 (Reuter) - Thousands of followers of Golden Triangle
warlord Khun Sa face starvation and are preparing to flee his stronghold on
the edge of Burma's Shan State after Thailand sealed its border, Shan sources
said on Thursday. 
    Ho Mong, a normally thriving town of more than 6,000 people, has turned
quiet. Goods are scarce at the morning markets and shophouses since the Thai
military blocked jungle tracks between the two countries two months ago. 
    ``The situation is very bad. Many people are preparing to flee from Ho
Mong,'' a senior Shan guerrilla who arrived in Thailand last week told
Reuters. 
    The Ho Mong base of Khun Sa is dependent entirely on supplies from
Thailand because Burmese government troops, with orders to eliminate the drug
baron, are drawn up on the west bank of the Salween river, part of which
forms the border between Thailand and Burma. 
    The Thai national security council confirmed the border had been sealed. 
    ``The Mae Hong Son provincial governor and local armed forces have been
ordered to seal off the border for security reasons,'' a council spokesman
told Reuters by telephone. 
    The Shan guerrilla said hundreds of people including himself, believing
worse was to come, have slipped into Thailand despite the border closure.
Thousands more are preparing to flee deeper inside Shan State where they can
obtain food, he said. 
    ``The man (Khun Sa) is just about finished. His practice of bribing his
way through does not work any more,'' the same source said, adding that
Thailand had arrested a Khun Sa envoy who had tried to negotiate a border
reopening. 
    ``Yes, people are suffering hardship. They spend most of their time
trying to get supplies from the Thai border,'' Kuen Sai, a spokesman for Khun
Sa, told Reuters by telephone. 
    The spokesman said hundreds of people have to trek down jungle paths on
10-hour journeys in order to smuggle goods to Ho Mong from the black market
on the border. 
    The price of rice and other goods in Ho Mong, about 20 km (12 miles)
north of the Thai border, has more than trebled in the past two months. 
    ``People have to pay up to 400 baht ($16) for 15 kgs of rice and 40 baht
($1.6) for one litre of gasoline,'' a woman living in the town said. 
    The Shan rebel said he believed Thailand had closed its border under
pressure from the United States, which has called for tougher action against
Khun Sa since a U.S. court indicted him in 1990 for heroin trafficking. 
    Khun Sa, 60, is the half-Chinese, half Shan commander of the 8,000 strong
Mong Tai Army (MTA) which he says is fighting for the independence of Shan
State from Burma. 
    Thai and U.S. drug enforcement agencies accuse him of using the MTA as a
private army to protect his heroin business. Khun Sa denies the charge and
says he only taxes opium traders who traverse the territory he controls. 
    Closure of the border could prove decisive in the long struggle between
Khun Sa and Burmese government troops, because it for the first time traps
him between Thai forces and the Salween river line held by the Burmese
government. 
 REUTER


Transmitted: 94-10-06 02:14:55 EDT