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SLORC ALERT AT THAI BORDER TO STAY
- Subject: SLORC ALERT AT THAI BORDER TO STAY
- From: moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 15:47:00
Subject: SLORC ALERT AT THAI BORDER TO STAY AS KARENS STILL A THREAT
REUTER 5/3
YANGON -- The Myanmar government said yesterday that the Karen National
Union
(KNU) rebel organisation was still a threat and it planned to keep
troops at the
Thai-Myanmar border where the KNU is based as long as necessary.
"The KNU can still be a threat to the government," senior intelligence
official Colonel
Kyaw Thein told a monthly news conference.
He said Myanmar forces which have been involved in more than 100 border
battles
since last month will remain as long as necessary to fight the last
major ethnic group yet
to sign a ceasefire agreement with Yangon.
Myanmar troops sacked KNU mobile bases in the eastern part of the
country last
month in attacks which sent thousands of refugees and guerillas
scurrying for shelter
into Thailand.
Col Kyaw Thein said a total of 115 skirmishes had taken place in two
separate areas
along the border, killing nearly 100 KNU and government troops and
wounding 85.
Officials said the troop movements should not harm relations between
Thailand and
Myanmar because the two sides had reached an understanding over the
border action.
"There shall not be any effect on the continuing bilateral relations
between Myanmar
and Thailand," Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw said.
"Before any action was taken, we kept the Thai authorities informed of
the intended
action. We have not intended to hurt the bilateral relations and the
Thai government
understands it very well," he said.
The KNU, formed in 1948, has rejected several peace overtures from the
Yangon
military government. -- Reuter.