Burma Abortive Raid on Camp

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                                 AP Worldstream

                 February  27, 1997; Thursday 09:32 Eastern Time

HEADLINE: Burmese stage abortive raid on camp as concern rises for refugees
P
BYLINE: ROBERT HORN

DATELINE: PU NAM RAWN, Thailand

 BODY:
    Burmese troops crossed into Thailand Thursday to raid a makeshift refugee
camp sheltering some 2,300 people fleeing a massive military offensive inside
 Burma  against ethnic Karen rebels. 
   The troops were repelled by Thai defense forces. But international concern
rose over Thailand forcing thousands of other desperate refugees back into
 Burma  and the war zone.

   The raiding party crossed the frontier Thursday morning and was advancing
toward the camp at an abandoned tin mine at Pu Nam Rawn, an hour's drive west of
Kanchanaburi, 110 kilometers (70 miles) west of Bangkok.

   The Burmese confronted about 20 Thai self-defense volunteers who yelled that
they were on Thai territory, witnesses said. The Burmese opened fire with small
arms and mortars and forced the volunteers to retreat. The Burmese also pulled
back. Regular Thai troops later took positions in the camp.

   The border opposite Kanchanaburi has been transformed in the past week into
the southern front of  Burma's  offensive to stamp out the Karen National Union,
which has battled the Rangoon government for more autonomy since 1949.

   Some 15,000 Karens have been allowed into Thailand since  Burma  launched the
offensive. They have joined about 90,000 Karen and other refugees who have lived
in Thai camps for years.

   But in recent days, Thailand has reversed its decades-old practice of giving
refuge to the Karens. Border relief groups and Thai media report that as many as
5,000 refugees including women, children and the elderly have been turned back
toward  Burma.

   ''We are deeply concerned by the reports, which we have confirmed, and we are
in touch with the appropriate authorities to convey this concern,'' said a U.S.
Embassy spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity.

   Two U.S. Embassy officials investigating reports of refugee movements were
prevented from reaching the border Tuesday by Thai forces. Relief workers and
journalists have also been kept away.

   A Thai television station, however, showed footage Wednesday of what it said
were Karen refugees mostly women, children and the elderly being taken in trucks
to the border and turned over to a Burmese official.

   Thai military officials have said they do not want Karen guerrillas to
operate from their soil and claim to have received guarantees from  Burma  for
the safety of returning refugees.

   The refugees fear both the fighting and the Burmese military regime's policy
of pacifying their region by forcibly relocating villages. Human rights groups
accuse the army of random execution, rape and slave labor.

   A dozen prominent international human rights groups, including Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch-Asia and France-Libertes, jointly demanded
Thursday that Thailand allow in the refugees.

   Sending back ''any non-combatants, be they men, women or children, is a
violation of customary international law and must cease immediately,'' they
said.

   The U.S. Embassy spokesman said that  Burma's  military regime bears ''the
ultimate responsibility for this human tragedy.''

   Washington considers  Burma's  military regime one of the worst violators of
human rights in Asia and has demanded that the ruling junta negotiate a
political settlement with Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's
pro-democracy leader.

    Burma  is using an estimated 100,000 troops to crush about 2,500 insurgents.
The rebels, unable to defend territory and resorting to guerrilla tactics,
have abandoned several bases.

   Private organizations reported that about 40 KNU fighters had been killed on
the southern front and that the Burmese army suffered about 200 dead and
wounded. Burmese troops were allegedly raping women and burning villages as they
advanced.

   The casualty figures and atrocities were impossible to verify.

   The rebels believe Thailand, which long used  Burma's  rebellious ethnic
groups as a buffer against  Burma,  now wants to profit from a more stable
border.

   A dlrs 1.2 billion natural gas pipeline owned by the Burmese government and
French and U.S. oil companies is being built through Karen territory to sell gas
to Thailand.

   Thai companies also are bidding to develop a deep water seaport at Tavoy, 385
kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Rangoon. Highways

   hrough Karen territory linking the port to Thailand are planned.