LATEST NEWS ON DAWN GWIN - 17-12-94

[dave.buss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

For the most updated information of the recent Dawn Gwin attacks by 
SLORC, see the final ABSDF statement.
 
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BKK POST: KNU ACCUSES RANGOON JUNTA OF AGITATION
Friday December 16, 1994
 
THE Karen National Union claims undercover agents from Burmas State 
Law and Order Restoration Council have organised unscrupulous 
opportunists to carry out agitation in an area controlled by Karen 
guerrillas.
 
A KNU press release said that not long after SLORC announced in 1992 
the suspension of major offensives against Karen resistance areas, in the 
interests of national reconciliation and unity it began a propaganda 
campaign to sow dissension among people in Karen State through 
manipulation of religious differences.
 
On December 2, matters came to a head when the agitators succeeded in 
creating misunderstanding among a small group of lower-ranking elements 
of the Karen National Liberation Army to call a strike.
 
However, on December 13, the KNU leaders, with the help of some 
Democratic Alliance of Burma leaders and Buddhist monks resolved the 
problem.
 
The SLORC, on hearing the news of the incident, moved up heavy 
weapons and reinforcements to the front and has been shelling KNLA 
positions since December 10.
 
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NATION: SLORC BREAKS CEASEFIRE VOW WITH ATTACK ON 
KAREN REBELS
Friday, December 16 1994
by Yindee Lertcharoenchok
 
THE Burmese junta has broken its ceasefire pledge and launched the first 
major offensive against ethnic Karen guerrillas in nearly three years, 
capitalizing on internal religious dissension and a mutiny by a group of 
Buddhist Karen fighters.
 
The Karen National Union (KNU), in a statement released yesterday, 
accused the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) of 
sending agitators to stir up dissension between Buddhists and Christians, 
and questioned SLORCs intentions and earlier calls for national 
reconciliation.
 
The Buddhist-Christian conflict climaxed on Sunday when several hundred 
Buddhist guerrillas in and around a Buddhist temple on the confluence of 
the Moei and Salween rivers clashed with mainforce KNU fighters.
 
The mutineers temporarily held hostage a group of mediators sent to settle 
the dispute, but released them after fighting which resulted in several 
casualties.
 
The KNU blamed SLORC for the mutiny, saying it had tried to sow 
dissension among the Karen people through the manipulation of 
religious differences.
 
Through the work of its undercover agents, it (SLORC) succeeded in 
organizing some unscrupulous opportunists to agitate in one area of the 
KNU, said the statement.
 
According to the statement, the Burmese army began heavy shelling of 
Karen bases at Kawmoora and Nawta on Saturday, one day before the 
mutiny.
 
It said the SLORC troops who attacked Nawta, which is opposite Thailand
s Tak province, were repulsed with heavy casualties.
 
This move by SLORC has made the KNU leadership see the SLORCs 
affirmation of national reconciliation and unity in a different light and to 
start questioning the real intention of SLORC, added the statement.
 
Thai border authorities have confirmed that since early December SLORC 
had been moving heavy weapons and reinforcements into its stronghold 
around Htee Par Wee Cho, or Sleeping Dog Hill the frontline where the 
Burmese and Karen troops have confronted one another for the past few 
years.
 
The offensive resumed after a lull of nearly three years after the time when 
the KNU and the SLORC are quietly working out a formula for their first 
meeting to negotiate peace. While SLORC has insisted that ceasefire talks 
take place in Moulmein, the capital of the Mon State, the Karen demand 
that they occur in Rangoon in the presence of the United Nations. 
 
Thai authorities expressed extreme surprise at the Burmese offensive but 
confirmed fighting was continuing yesterday. They said shelling was 
detected yesterday along the Karen-controlled border with Thailand.
 
The Burmese troops were about 10 kms from the KNU Kawmoora camp on 
the Moei River opposite Taks Mae Sot district, and about 10 kms from the 
dissident students headquarters of Dawn Gwin in upper Salween River 
opposite Mae Hong Son province.
 
The All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), which established 
its bases in the KNU areas said the Burmese armys dry season offensive 
was aimed at over-running the Karen headquarters at Manerplaw and other 
bases of anti-SLORC democratic forces.
 
It said intense fighting was continuing and that the 33rd and 44th light 
infantry divisions of the Burmese armys southeastern command had 
attacked and occupied Mae Nyaw Khei and Mae Pa outposts on Sunday.
 
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BKK POST: BURMESE TROOPS ROUT DISSIDENT STUDENTS
Saturday, December 17, 1994
Bangkok, Reuters
 
BURMESE government troops have captured and razed the headquarters 
of dissident students in southeastern Burma, sending hundreds of rebels 
into hiding in the jungle, student sources said yesterday.
 
"Initial reports confirmed that Burma troops have captured our 
headquarters at Dagwin, and some of the student militia are reported 
wounded, said Shan Lay foreign affairs secretary for the All Burma 
Students Democratic Front (ABSDF).
 
The fate of nearly half the 1,500 student soldiers based in the strategic 
buffer camp at Dagwin was still unknown, Shan Lay said, but indications 
are that many of them are hiding in dense jungle or in the homes of nearby 
villagers.
 
The other half escaped down the Salween river to Karen rebel bases further 
south to flee what is shaping up to be a steady advance of Burmese forces 
toward Manerplaw, the headquarters of the Karen National Union (KNU) 
50 kilometres away.
 
A Thai army source quoted intelligence reports as saying about 10,000 
government troops were involved in the bombarding of Dagwin from early 
on Thursday.
 
The ABSDF was formed by Burmese students who fled Rangoon to the 
jungles along the Thai border after the junta cracked down on a pro-
democracy movement in 1988, killing hundreds and probably thousands of 
protesters.
 
The students and the KNU linked up with exiled dissident politicians in a 
continuing struggle against the military rule of Rangoon. All are based at 
Manerplaw between the Moei and Salween rivers about 20 kilometres 
northeast of Rangoon.
 
The KNU is regarded as the strongest of the more than a dozen ethnic 
minority groups which have fought for autonomy from Rangoon since 
Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948, but it has recently been 
weakened by a major split in its ranks.
 
Several hundred Buddhist guerrillas, backed by monks and villagers, are 
occupying a hilltop monastery at the junction of the Moei and Salween 
rivers in protest against the mainly Christian leadership of the KNU.
 
Thai army sources have said the mutineers killed at least three out of 15 
envoys whom the KNU sent to negotiate with them, and detained the rest 
except one.
 
The KNU leadership believes government agitators are behind the split.
 
This has all been planned, KNU official Em Marta told Reuters 
Thursday.
 
Negotiations over their grievances, which include allegations of 
mistreatment and discrimination, were continuing.
 
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NATION: STUNNED STUDENTS SEEK REFUGE AFTER BURMESE 
ARMY OFFENSIVE
Saturday, December 17, 1994
by Yindee Lertcharoenchok
 
THE Burmese army yesterday captured the headquarters of dissident 
students on the Salween River and continued its mortar attack on the 
Karen headquarters further down stream.
 
The lightning Burmese offensive by troops of the State Law and Order 
Restoration Council (SLORC) and the fall of Dawn Gwin took the students 
and the ethnic Karen National Union (KNU) guerrillas by surprise, causing 
hundreds of students to seek refuge across the river in Thailand.
 
The capture of Dawn Gwin has severed one of the two supply lines to the 
Karen headquarters of Manerplaw on the Moei River, which is also 
accessible by the Salween River.
 
Thai officials expressed alarm at the Burmese offensive, the first in nearly 
three years since the Burmese junta announced a unilateral ceasefire 
against armed ethnic groups in April 1992. Troops have been deployed 
along the border to prevent a military spillover and territorial violations.
 
Authorities are also worried that the offensive will drive a new wave of 
refugees into the Kingdom.
 
Informed border sources said mortar shelling of several Karen border 
camps continued yesterday after the fall of Dawn Gwin, with the prime 
target the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw, 50 kilometres south of Dawn 
Gwin on the Moei River.
 
Shells were also reported falling on Kawmoora, the Karen special 101st 
military base on the Moei River opposite Thailands Mae Sot district, and 
Naw Hta, another Karen base which is about 50 kms south of Manerplaw.
 
Sources said that about 700 lightly-armed students of the All Burma 
Students Democratic Front were stunned and unprepared by the ground 
attack by two Burmese battalions which started early this week. The 
Burmese forces in the area were supported by three or four local battalions.
 
The students scattered in the jungle after the fall of their camp but many 
managed to cross the river into Thailand. They were disarmed on arrival 
and will be allowed to remain here on a temporary basis. They must return 
to Burma when the situation permits, Thai officials said.
 
The Burmese army sent in heavy weapons and deployed more troops early 
this month around Htee Par Wee Cho, or Sleeping Dog Mountain, where it 
confronted Karen forces and seized several frontline outposts after the 
KNU withdrew its fighters to settle an internal religious conflict with a 
group of Karen mutineers. 
 
The frontline around Dawn Gwin was weakened after the Karen 
withdrawal and the Burmese army must have capitalized on the situation to 
launch an offensive against the students who possess only small and light 
arms, said one Thai authority who has been monitoring the border 
situation.
 
We [Thailand] dont know why the SLORC decided to launch an 
operation now, but the most important thing is to monitor if it [SLORC] 
will continue its offensive to attack Manerplaw or will halt the fighting 
after the fall of Dawn Gwin, he said.
 
While some Thai authorities believed that operations were staged to force 
the Karen group to begin peace talks with Rangoon, others believed that 
the offensive dispelled any hope of the two sides meeting to end the long 
war which has lasted for four decades.
 
Border security officers said they could not predict if the Karen 
headquarters would fall, but one official said capturing Manerplaw would 
cost the Burmese army very dearly.
 
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PRESS STATEMENT - For Immediate Release
17 December 1994
 
 
        PRESENT SITAUATION OF RECENT FIGHTING 
                          IN DAWN GWIN AREA
 
Since the first week of December 1994, there had been reports that SLORC 
troops were preparing to launch an offensive against the Headquarters of 
ABSDF in Dawn Gwin in the KNU-controlled area. Concurrently, this was 
the time of a conflict within the Karen National Union (KNU) because of 
religious differences.   
 
A total of 14 SLORC military companies (Coys) -- three Coys from the 1st 
Column of Infantry Battalion (IB) 19, three Coys from the 1st Column of 
Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 434, two Coys from the 2nd Column of LIB 
434, three Coys from the 1st Column of LIB 340, and three Coys from the 
1st Column of LIB 431, comprised of over 1,000 troops in all -- launched 
the planned offensive against Dawn Gwin. 
 
On 11 December SLORC troops occupied Lae Toe outpost located 6,000 
yards west of Dawn Gwin. Two days later, on 13 December fighting took 
place between SLORC troops and ABSDFs Student Army near Lae Toe 
outpost.
 
In the evening on 14 December the Student Army attacked SLORC troops, 
who attempted to burn down buildings of ABSDFs 216th Regiment (Regt) 
and nearby NLD camps, located north of Dawn Gwin.
 
SLORC troops arrived at the Dawn Gwin area, and retreated after being 
engaged by the Student Army. Buildings of the 216th Regt were razed to 
the ground. Subsequently, the Student Army has been taking positions on 
hilltops in the Dawn Gwin area and are ready to repulse any further 
SLORC aggression.
 
At present, there are no more SLORC troops in the Dawn Gwin area as 
they have retreated to the west 12 km from ABSDF Headquarters. In these 
recent clashes with SLORC troops, there were no casualties reported from 
the Student Army. The number of SLORC casualties has not yet been 
confirmed.
 
 
Central Committee
Dawn Gwin
17 December 1994