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SLORC Attacks KNPP Positions Despit



Subject:       SLORC Attacks KNPP Positions Despite Cease-Fire Pact

N  E  W  S      F  L  A  S  H	          N  E  W  S      F  L  A  S  H


ATTACK BEGINS ON KARENNI POSITIONS DESPITE CEASE-FIRE PACT
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Mae Hong Son, June 28  -- SLORC today launched a military offensive against the Karenni National 
Progressive Party, KNPP, ordering a 3,000-strong force to march on the KNPP headquarters and on 
an area where student dissidents are taking refuge.

The latest move is viewed by the Karenni as a blatant breach of the cease-fire agreement that it
had concluded with the SLORC on March 21, 1995.

The KNPP has already ordered its forces to take up defensive positions and also begun evacuating
its civilians.

Earlier this month, the KNPP has protested incursions into Karenni territory by SLORC troops to 
force people to work as porters as well as to collect porter fees from the regional populace. 

The KNPP officials met Major General Maung Aye and other army officers in Loikaw June 21-22 to 
resolve the escalating problem.  At the talks, SLORC officials demanded the right of their 
troops to enter into Karenni territory "to prevent illegal logging."  The talks broke off on 
June 23 without any agreement. 

The demands from the SLORC officials came despite the key provision in the cease-fire agreement
and a promise by Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, secretary-1 of the SLORC, that troops will not
cross the Salween into Karenni territory.

The attack involving three different columns appears to target the KNPP headquarters and the 
area where the All Burma Students' Democratic Front, ABSDF, is based.

According to reports from Mae Hong Son, ABSDF members have also made necessary preparations to
defend themselves.


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