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BurmaNet: Seige of Kawmoora



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************************** BurmaNet **************************
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
**************************************************************
The BurmaNet News: Thursday, February 16, 1995
Issue #110
Special Issue: The Seige of Kawmoora

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Contents:                                                    

*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************

1 BURMANET: A REPORT FROM INSIDE KAWMOORA
2 BKK POST: BURMESE SUFFER HUGE LOSSES AT KAWMOORA
3 BKK POST: 40 DIE AS BURMESE HIT KNU BASE
4 NATION: HEAVY CASUALTIES FOR BURMESE ARMY IN KAWMOORA RAID
5 NATION: THAI ARMY DRIVES BACK BURMESE TROOPS
6 BKK POST: ETHNIC 'BLOODBATH' IMMINENT: JUNTA
7 REUTER: BURMESE POUND KARENS' LAST MAJOR STRONGHOLD
8 BKK POST: BURMA ACCUSES THAILAND OF AIDING KNU

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*************THE BURMANET NEWS, FEBRUARY 16, 1995*************
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*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
BURMANET: A REPORT FROM INSIDE KAWMOORA
February 15, 1995

Kawmoora

An Australian Broadcasting correspondent described Kawmoora as "a
worthless bit of mud."  Less than a square kilometre in area, it is
a tear-drop shaped protrusion of Burma jutting into Thailand,
surrounded on three sides by the Moei River.  It hardly seems worth
dying over--but in the last week, more than 200 Burmese and Karens
have done just that.  As many and more are likely to die there in
the days to come.

Several hundred Karen fighters are holding out at Kawmoora against
a Burmese force that is at least ten times their number.  Their
situation is remeniscent of the Alamo, where several hundred Texans
were finally overrun by a Mexican army ten times their size.  The
Tatmadaw, as the Burmese army calls itself, has several advantages
which even the Mexicans did not--such as tanks and the fact that
Kawmoora doesn't have walls.

Kawmoora has been under daily bombardment since mid-December and
the attacks were stepped up after the fall of the Karen's Manerplaw
headquarters.  As the last Karen stronghold along the Thai/Burma
border, it has taken on a significance far greater than it's
military value.  For the Burmese State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC), the fact that the Karens have been in rebellion
for decades bears witness to the brutality and stupidity of Burma's
military rulers.  Kawmoora matters to the SLORC because wiping it
out would put an end to that very public embarrassement.  For the
Karens of the 101st Special Battalion inside Kawmoora, evacuating
in the face of a Tatmadaw attack could be suicide.  It would surely
mean giving up their weapons to the Thais.  Losing their weapons
would mean losing their ability to resist the SLORC.

Getting into Kawmoora is easy enough.  On most days the shelling is
only intermittent and it is just a three kilometre walk from the
Huay Kalok refugee camp through rice fields and degraded forest. 
The Thai Border Patrol and army Rangers have ostensibly closed the
area, but true to form, they stay close to the roads and back from
the border, lest they get too close to where stray Burmese
artillary might impact.

Kawmoora is on low, flat ground, with low hills on the opposite
Thai shore and two much higher hills further off on the Burmese
side.  Between those higher hills and the Karen front line is a
flat plain and a sharp ravine.

Descending to the river bank on the Thai side, the Karen troops who
were adding still more sandbags to the roofs of their bunkers, drop
their shovels in favor of rifles and take cover.  They haven't had
a lot of reporters since the shelling started.  Once they've
determinined that their unexpected visitor does not have a Burmese
accent, an extremely polite invitation to cross over is not long in
coming.

It is well into the dry season along the Thai/Burma border so the
Moei is little more than waist deep and less than a hundred metres
wide; an easy two minutes wade across the river.  Bbut as the
Burmese army has learned repeatedly, two minutes directly in front
of a machine gun can last a lifetime.

The men of the 101st Special Battalion are perhaps the best force
in the Karen revolution.  They are no boy-soldiers as there were at
Manerplaw and these men have been fighting together for many years. 
The are however, extremely courteous and quickly invite their guest
into a deep bunker in case the artillary starts up again.

Kawmoora may be a "worthless bit of mud" but the teak in those
bunkers is not.  The bunkers are roofed with rows of entire teak
trees, layered three rows deep.  If there was any spot in them with
less than 10 feet of teak over one's head, it was not evident. 
Even direct hits by the SLORC's 120 and 130mm shells are not enough
to kill the men inside.  The constant bombardment is enough to make
their lives miserable, but while full of sound and fury, damages
nothing.

Their commander, Gen. Taw Hla is a devout Christian with a
reputation as a reserved, cagey and able commander.  Diminutive and
with a scraggly white beard, he hardly looks the part of a fierce
warrior.  When the Karen Human Rights Group put up a display about
SLORC abuses of Karen civilians near his base, the General
carefully examined the display and then enquired as to its purpose. 
He was, it seems, concerned that his men not worked into into a
blood lust by the reports.  That concern, and it appears genuine,
did not prevent the General and his men from grimly slaughtering
the better part of three battalions when they they attacked his
base a week ago.

Deliberately conducting our brief interview above ground, Taw Hla
lived up to his reputation for trying out journalists before he
decides whether he likes them.  His answers are straightforward;
they aren't leaving until they've gained victory and the reason
they are fighting at Kawmoora is because that is where the Burmese
have come.

Out of the general's presence, some of his men are more open.  They
are equally determined to stay but there is no missing the pressure
that they are under.  One has not eaten in the two days since the
last attack because the sight of all the men they've killed stays
with him.  They are upset at the "unfairness" of the SLORC's
unending artillary barrage, as if fairness were a concept that
still applied in war.  Their anger and fear was turned on the SLORC
soldiers during the last attack: "We were very severe with them,"
one Karen soldier quietly said.

Leaving the base is another brief wade across the Moei.  On
reaching the other side, another barrage breaks over Kawmoora like
a summer storm.  It is desultory by Kawmoora standards but enough
to get one's attention.  The nearest cover is up the hill and
seventy five metres down the road, where I'd concrete culvert on
the way in.  Sliding over the side and into the narrow tunnel, the
strong smell of human faeces is evidence that others have found
cover here before.  After a few minutes, the shelling clears up
enough to make the return journey.




These are almost certainly the last days of Kawmoora.  It isn't
that the Burmese will take it, but rather that the Thai army will
close it by edict.  The only way to get food in is through Thailand
and the tilt of Thai foreign policy towards SLORC is both
unmistakeable and odorous.  For its part, the SLORC doesn't appear
inclined to wait for the Thais to shut Kawmoora down.  They've
moved a number of PT-76 light tanks up to Kawmoora and look set to
try armor where human wave attacks failed.  For their part, the
Karens, up against the longest odds they've ever faced, are putting
their faith in God and their rocket-propelled grenades to get
through the coming attack.


[Messages can be sent to the troops inside Kawmoora care of
BurmaNet, although replies cannot be guaranteed.]

*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
BKK POST: BURMESE SUFFER HUGE LOSSES AT KAWMOORA
10 February 1995

More than 100 Burmese soldiers were killed or wounded in
Wednesday's suicide attack on the KNU's rebel base at
Kawmoora, according to KNU and Thai border Patrol Police
sources.

The BPP source said at least 54  Burmese soldiers littered no-man's
land, an area of about 600 metres wide and 500 metres long in front
of the camp.

He said the Burmese troops were mowed down by small arms fire when
they mounted a frontal attack on the rebels' defensive perimeter.

An unknown number of Burmese soldiers were transported in six
trucks to hospital in Than Gan Nti Naung and Kaw Ka Reik. The
seriously wounded were helicoptered to Pa-an for surgery, the BPP
said source.

Seven Karen rebels were killed and four wounded, said Brig-gen Taw
Hla, commander of Kawmoora.

Among the dead Burmese were two majors. Karen renegades who
defected to the Rangoon forces were also killed in the suicide
charge. This was shown from their yellow scarfs, he added. The
general claimed his troops were killed or wounded Burmese they
leapt out of their bunkers to fight the Burmese face to face.
About 300 Burmese troops from the battalions of the 44th
Division, supported by artillery, motor and rocket fire, were
involved in Wednesday's frontal assault on Kawmoora.
Hundred of Karen fighters who retreated from Manerplaw
headquarters arrived at Kawmoora a few days before Wednesday's
assault.

A KNU officer claimed that several thousand rockets, artillery and
motor shells and slammed into Kawmoora over the past few days.

Another Karen officer said the KNU leadership was not happy with
reports of the split between Buddhist and Christian
Karen.(BP)


*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
BKK POST: 40 DIE AS BURMESE HIT KNU BASE
9 February 1995

More than 40 Burmese troops were killed yesterday as they attempted
to storm the last remaining Karen National Union base at Kawmoora,,
some 25 kilometres north of Mae Sot district.

A Karen guerrilla, an eye-witness to the assault, said the Burmese
army troops were blown to pieces when they entered the
heavily-mined defensive perimeter of the last major KNU stronghold.
He added that some government soldiers were seriously wounded and
five were captured after they managed to evade the minefields and
the shootout between the two sides that followed the daring
assault.

The Karen officers said the Burmese army sent in two assault
forces, each numbering about 100 men at about 9 a.m. He described
the 40 killed in the attack on the base as "very brave men who just
walked through the minefields oblivious of the exploding mines and
KNU bullets."

He also said according to a government radio massage intercepted by
the KNU, the Burmese army had ordered the 100 or more troops who
had retreated from the minefields to capture Kawmoora at all costs.
"The special assault groups are believed to have been heavily
drugged to have carried out the suicide attack on the KNU base,"
said the Karen officer. He added that some of the seriously wounded 
in the minefields are still alive.

Another source said it is common practice by the Burmese military
regime to inject their frontline soldiers, especially suicide
squads, with a certain drug that numbs the sense of pain and fear
in a man.

"They become like zombies, fearing neither pain nor death," the
source said.

Meanwhile Brig-Gen Taw La, commander of Kawmoora, said the KNLA
(Karen National Liberation Army) has no intention of abandoning the
base. "It has also established mobile units to stage hit and run
attacks against Burmese troops." he said.

A source in the Thai border security force in Mae Sot, Tak, said
fighting in Burma was clearly heard throughout yesterday.
The Burmese ground attack on kawmoora followed shelling of the camp
with more than 2,000 rounds of mortar and recoilless gunfire which
began on Tuesday, the source said.

Thai forces went on full alerty yesterday after being told that a
number of Burmese soldiers had crossed the Moei River to the Thai
side of the border at Ban Wang Kaew early yesterday morning in
order to attack Kawmoora from the south.
The report, which was not confirmed, said a clash broke out after
Burma troops who managed to cross to the Thai side of the border
opened fire at kawmoora camp with machineguns and rifles, prompting
KNU soldiers to return fire.

A Border Patrol Police source said a number of artillery rounds
landed at Ban Wang Kaew, some of which exploded in midair.
Thai border security forces fired 30 warning rounds using 105 and
81 mm mortars.

Fighting died down late in the afternoon.
Rangoon troops have tried to overrun kawmoora many times without
success.

Three fresh Burmese battalions were reported to have reinforced the
area, indicating  Rangoon's determination to take Kawmoora "at all
costs". (BP)

*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
NATION: HEAVY CASUALTIES FOR BURMESE ARMY IN KAWMOORA RAID
10 February 1995

Yindee Lertcharoenchok

THE Burmese army has suffered heavy casualties and ammunition loss
from Wednesday's massive ground and artillery assault at Kawmoora,
opposite Mae Sot District, Tak province.

Thai border and guerrillas sources said the bodies of at least 54
Burmese soldiers, several of whom were Karen deserters, were found
at the Kawmoora front line. 

The sources said at least six truck full of wounded Burmese
soldiers left the area for Thin Gan Nyi Naung for medical
treatment or to be transferred to Rangoon or Pa-an, which is the
capital of Burma's Karen State.

The guerrillas seized a number of weapons and ammunition from the
Burmese Army. At least 20 assault rifles, one 7.62-mm
machine gun, two wire cutters and ammunition were captured. The
Karen also seized a Burmese flag and the Fifth Burmese Company flag
from the fighting zone.

The heavy bombardment and ground assault has come to an almost
complete halt since Wednesday, but sporadic artillery fire can
still be heard.

The Burmese 44th Division Commanded, Brig-Gen Tin Lwin, has been
directing the operations against Kawmoora, the guerrillas' 101th
special military unit, from a near by town, while Maj Gen Maung
Hla, commander of the Southern Operation Command is believe to have
been monitoring the whole offensive in Pa-an.

Some junta leaders, particularly the Chief of Military
Intelligence, Lt Gen Khin Nyunt, who initiated and supported the
cease fire talks with about a dozen armed ethnic groups, wanted to
engage the Karen in dialogue, but the armed forces and regional
commanders, especially Army Commander-in-chief Gen Maung Aye,
supported the use of force to wipe out of the Ethnic insurgency.

The Burmese junta broke its unilateral ceasefire against the Karen,
declared in April 1992, and launched an unexpected and lighting
offensive against Manerpalw in early December, when the KNU was
facing the religious rebellion which saw the eventual breakaway of
about 300 to 400 Karen Buddhist troops. (TN)




****************************THAILAND***************************
NATION: THAI ARMY DRIVE BACK BURMESE TROOPS
9 February 1995

Fifty Burmese troops who cross the Moei River into Thailand
yesterday morning in an attempt to launch a rear attack against a
Karen stronghold opposite Thailand's northern prov- ince of Tak,
were repulsed after the Thai Army fired an artil- lery shot to 
warn them of their territory transgression.

The Army also fired several rounds of heavy artillery and smoke
canisters as a warning after the Burmese Army fired at  least 10
heavy artillery rounds, including anti-personnel shells, into
Thai territory yesterday. The shelling stopped at about 5 pm.

Local Thai leaders and karen National Union (KNU) sources said
the Burmese attacks yesterday were the heaviest assaults in the
last three days, since its army decided to send ground forces in
to overrun Kawmoora, headquarters of the Karen guerrillas' 10th
special unit opposite Tak's Mae Sot district.

Since early December, The Burmese army has fired about 1,000
rounds of artillery a day at Kawmoora, an attempt seen as "a
never-breaking" operation to tire out about 2,000 war-battered
die-hard karen soldiers.

Karen officers said during interviews yesterday that they had
intercepted a Burmese army message that its forces would try to
capture Kawmoora by tomorrow.

Thai authorities in Bangkok and in Mae Sot said the Burmese army
keeps up its present all-out massive attack, it would be
difficult for the Karen to hold on to their camp for long. But
Karen officers said their troop would "fight til the death" to
defend the one-square-kilometre Kawmoora stronghold.

Both Karen and Thai sources said the Burmese army had deployed
four battalions, including about 3,000 civilian porters, in the
offensive.

They believed that the Burmese army had suffered the heaviest
casualties, estimated at over 100, in the ground assault
yesterday against Kawmoora's narrow defence line, which has been
well protected with mines, booby traps and alert karen forces.
Karen officers said they believed many of the Burmese troops were
in fact porters in army uniforms whom the Burmese army had
forcibly rounded up recently from Kawkereik, Hlaingbwe and other
towns in the area and forced to carry military loads and  clear t
he kawmoora frontline as "protective shields" and "mine
sweepers".

The officers also confirmed that about 30 Karen mutineers who
defected in December from the Karen National Union to form a
rival group, are now assisting the Burmese in the attacks.
Agence France-Presse adds: The Burmese junta yesterday said  more
than 4,000 Karen who fled its January offensive against
anti-Rangoon groups had returned from refugee in Thailand and
were being settled by a government organization.

An official statement, issued by the Burmese embassy in Jakarta,
said that "4,165 Kayins have returned ... within the last week,
and more are returning each day.

"Local authorities and the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) are providing them with food, clothing and
other necessities, and assisting to settle them in villages in
Kayin State," it said.

On Jan 29, Rangoon's state-run media announced that ethnic Karen
state had been renamed Kayin state.

The embassy statement obtained here also said that the Karen
National Union (KNU), the rebel group which the junta forced into
retreat on Jan 26, had suffered a general mutiny. (TN)

*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
BKK POST: ETHNIC 'BLOODBATH' IMMINENT: JUNTA
13 February 1995

The chairman of the Burma's ruling junta said yesterday ethnic
groups still at war with the government were pushing their
members into a "bloodbath".

Government troops, meanwhile, maintained their siege of the last
major ethnic insurgent  base, keeping up their shelling of Karen
guerrillas at Kawmoorah, in eastern Burma near the Thai border
town of Mae Sot.

Speaking on the annual Union Day Holiday, Gen Than Shwe  said
internal strife that has believed the nation for decades still
affected remote areas.

"Owing to the insurgency, the national (groups) suffered all
kinds of hardship and misery, death and injury, their villages
and home put to the torch, and their farms, roads, bridges,
hospitals and school destroys," he said.

The government's  reconciliation policy has led 13 insurgent
groups to end their fight and join with the military for the
welfare of the nation, Than Shwe said.

But, he said: "There remain some groups which are misled  and
continue to commit destructive acts under influence of aliens,
turning a blind eye to the welfare of the states and the
nationals.

"It is deplorable that the groups suppress their members' wish
for making peace and are attempting to push them toward a
bloodbath," he said.

Union Day marks the anniversary of the 1947 Panglong
Agreement, which asserted the semi-autonomous rights of ethnic
minority regions within the Burmese union in preparation for
independence, granted by Britain in 1948.

Nevertheless, mutual distrust remained and ethnic minorities have
been at war with the central government since before the country
attained independence.

In recent years, however, many groups have concluded ceasefire
the government.

Late last month, government troops captured the long time
headquarters of the Karen National Union, the last major
ethnic insurgent group still fighting. The fall of the camp at
Manerplaw, 240 kilometres east of Rangoon, caused thousand of
Karen civilians to flee across the river border to Thailand. The
group's guerrilla scattered to other points along the
border.

Burmese forces have been besieging another Karen camp at
Kawmoorah, 200 kilometres south of Manerplaw, but have been
unable to drive out its defenders despite sometimes massive
shelling, which continued on a reduced scale yesterday.
Exile rebel sources in Thailand, said a propaganda campaign by
the Rangoon government appeared to be effective in inducing
defections among the Karen. They said about 1,000 Karen have left
refugee camps in Thailand in the past three days to cross back
into Burma and rally to the government side.

The government campaign takes advance of a religious split in the
Karen ranks, as well as a general war-weariness.

Long-simmering tension between the mostly  Christian Karen
leadership and the lower ranks, mostly buddhist, turned into an
open revolt last December.

Athough the revolt was suppressed, members of the break-away
Buddhist group later served as guides and otherwise aided
Burmese troops in their successful six-day offensive against
Manerplaw.

Opposition sources said yesterday about 50 members of the
break-away group have been visiting refugee camps in Thailand to
try to persuade Karen refugees to return to the government side
in Burma.

They said returns were given some pocket money and promised good
housing on their return. (BP)

*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
REUTER: BURMESE POUND KARENS' LAST MAJOR STRONGHOLD
February 9, 1995

MAE SOT, Thailand (Reuter) - Burmese government troops
Wednesday pounded Kawmoora, the last major stronghold of
autonomy-seeking Karen National Union (KNU) rebels, Thai
military sources at the border said.

More than 100 shells fired by the Burmese landed on Thai
soil and the Thai army retaliated by firing artillery and
mortars at Burmese positions, the sources said.

A Reuter reporter at the scene reported heavy fighting
between Burmese troops and KNU forces, who are defending their
last major stronghold since the fall of their headquarters at
Manerplaw last month.

It was the first time the Thai third army stationed opposite
Kawmoora on the River Moei had returned fire, having earlier
sent smoke shells toward the Burmese positions as a warning.

*****************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI***********************
BKK POST: BURMA ACCUSES THAILAND OF AIDING KNU
15 February 1995

BURMA accused Thailand of obstructing its military operations
against the Karen National Union's Kawmoora camp and threat-
ened to retaliate by closing the border and suspending
construction of the Thai Burmese Friendship Bridge.
The accusing was  made in a letter signed by Lt-Col Than Soe
of the local Burmese-Thai Border Committee and submitted to
the Thai committee yesterday.

The letter said Thai authorities had obstructed Burmese opera-
tions aimed at seizing Kawmoora camp opposite Mae Sot District
by sending food supplies to KNU soldiers defending the camp
and providing medical treatment for wound rebels.
This "support" had enabled the KNU to repulse the Burmese at-
tacks, it said.

The letter also claimed the Thai deployment of forces and
weapons along the border opposite the combat zone and Thai
shelling of Burmese troops had made the military offensive
more difficult.

It said Thailand's actions are obstructions to good relations
between the two countries. Therefore, Burma would retaliate by
closing the border to completely ban cross-border trade and
also suspend construction of the Mae Sot - Myawaddy bridge,
the latter said.

Col Direk Yaemngamriab, chairman of the Thai side of the bor-
der committee, said Thailand has a clear policy to maintain
good relations with Burma and has never interfere in the ongo-
ing suppressing against the KNU.

"Thailand has never reinforceed its military force along the
border because we are not involved in the conflict in Burma,"
he said.

Col Direk said Pado Mah was a refugee in the care of Thai au-
thorities and international organisations for humanitarian
reason.

"The DKBA's association was a violation of Thai sovereignty.
Moreover, abduction is a violation of Human rights," he said.
(BP)



**************************************************************
NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET:
 ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT
 AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS
 AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
 AW: ASIAWEEK
 AWSJ: ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
 Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt.3 DUS$1 (APPROX),
 BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION
 BI: BURMA ISSUES
 BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI
 BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN
 CPPSM: C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND
 FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW
 IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP
 KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP
 KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION
 Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET
                   106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL
                   6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL
 MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN
 NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK)
 NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA
 NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER, RANGOON)
 NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY
 RTA.:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP
 SCB.:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP
 SCT.:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP
 SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST
 SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL
 USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
 XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
**************************************************************