Re: Dawn Gwin and karens update (r)

[johnhail@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

12-21-94,07:13:15p r ibc-burma-karen 12-21
 Burmese step up attacks on Karens
   Bangkok, Dec. 21 (Upi) -- Burmese troops intensified their artillery
and mortar attacks on ethnic Karen positions Wednesday, firing more than
300 rounds at a remote rebel position near the Thai border, military
sources said. 
   Thai Border Patrol Police monitoring the fighting in Burma said
Rangoon's forces fired 120 mm. artillery, 81 mm. mortars and rockets at
the Karens' Kormura Camp, on the western bank of the Moei River, about 247
miles (397 km) northwest of Bangkok. 
   A border Patrol officer said in a telephone interview that the Burmese
government barrage began at 3 a.m. Wednesday and continued until dawn. 
   Karen defenders at Kormura, believed to number about 600, retaliated
with their own rockets and 75 mm. recoilless guns against Burmese
positions on two hilltops about 1 mile (1.6 km) away, the Thai officer
said. 
   Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, meanwhile, reacted
cautiously to reports that the Rangoon government had requested Thai help
in locating five Burmese soldiers who have gone missing during the current
upsurge of fighting near the two countries' border. 
   "I think in principle we will cooperate to locate any missing person in
Thailand," Surin said. "I have not seen (the Burmese request) officially,
but certainly we are prepared to cooperate as we cooperated with other
governments in the past on the same issue." 
   The Christian-led Karens have been fighting the Burmese central
government for more than 30 years, but recently they had been engaged in
peace talks with the current Rangoon military junta. 
   Military analysts said the current dry season offensive against Karen
enclaves along the Thai border appeared to mark an end to the Burmese
junta's efforts to being about a negotiated peace with the rebels. 
   Thai Border Patrol Police said the Rangoon government had deployed four
companies of the Burmese army's 44th Division in its push against the
Karen outpost of Kormura. 
   They said the Rangoon government attacks, which have been stepped up
since Dec. 14, were coordinated with similar military operations against
ethnic minorities and anti-government student exiles along a long front in
eastern Burma. 
   upi tt jh ccccqqe ;12211200 ---End---