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UN says all Burmese refugees going home next year

    COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Nov 27 (Reuter) - The U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) has said all of the estimated 150,000 Burmese Moslem
refugees still in Bangladeshi border camps will return home by end of next
year. 
    Their return was to have been completed by next June but the coming
monsoon and the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan in February will almost
certainly push the date back, an official said on Saturday. 
    ``The repatriation now seems likely to be over by December of next
year,'' said Stefano Savere, UNHCR mission chief in Cox's Bazar, temporary
home for the Burmese. 
    He said the repatriation was proceeding smoothly. ``We are satisfied with
the cooperation from Bangladesh and Burma.'' 
    More than 112,000 Burmese Moslems, known as Rohingyas, have gone home
since September 1992, government officials said. This left about 150,000
refugees in 18 camps, mostly along the Bangladesh-Burma border. 
    The Rohingyas fled from west Burma's Moslem-majority Arakan state in
early 1992 to escape persecution by the Burmese army. 
    On average, 20,000 Rohingyas return home each month under UNHCR
supervision, officials said. 
 REUTER


Transmitted: 94-11-27 02:06:45 EST
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China gives Burma $40 million interest-free loan

    RANGOON, Nov 27 (Reuter) - A Chinese cooperative is to give Burma a
$40-million, interest-free loan to buy ships, Burma's state-run media
reported on Sunday. 
    The Yunnan Machinery Import and Export Cooperative signed the agreement
on Saturday with the Inland Water Transportation Ministry, the reports said. 
    The money is to be used to buy 30 vessels, 23 to be built in China and
the rest in Burma. 
    Last year China gave Burma a $30-million loan, also interest-free, to pay
for 14 ships and 28 barges. Some Burmese engineers will be trained in China
under the new pact. 
    China is a major backer of the military junta that came to power in
Rangoon in 1988 after brutally suppressing a nascent democracy movement. 
 REUTER


Transmitted: 94-11-27 05:50:37 EST
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Over 56,000 run in Burma's weekend marathons

    RANGOON, Nov 27 (Reuter) - More than 56,000 people took part in Burma's
biggest marathon event on Saturday, according to media reports on Sunday. 
    Organisers staged a marathon and half-marathon, an eight-mile (13 km)
race, a wheelchair race of 13 miles (21 km), and a relay of 36 miles (58 km).

    Among the prizes were $10,200 in cash, a Korean-made car and
refrigerators. Rangoon held its first marathon five years ago. 
 REUTER


Transmitted: 94-11-27 05:30:24 EST
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