Possible cholera outbreak among Bur

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Subject: Possible cholera outbreak among Burma   refugees investigated

Possible cholera outbreak among Burma
  refugees investigated
  March 9, 1997
  1.51 p.m. EST (1851 GMT)

  BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Aid workers were investigating a possible
  outbreak of cholera Sunday as the cause of 15 reported deaths among
  ethnic Karens seeking refuge from a Burmese army offensive in camps
  along the Thai-Burma border. 

  The National Council of the Union of Burma, an umbrella organization of
  Burmese opposition groups, said that relief workers allowed into the
  camps by Thai authorities Sunday reported an epidemic of "serious watery
  diarrhea'' but could not yet confirm cholera. 

  The council said that 14 of the suspected cholera victims had died inside
  Burma, just across the border from Thailand's Kanchanaburi province, and
  one at a Thai camp. The group claimed that Thai authorities were slow
  allowing medical teams access. 

  Relief workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated
  Press they also feared a malaria epidemic could sweep through the
  thousands of refugees once the rainy season starts and the number of
  mosquitoes increases. 

  An estimated 15,000 Karens have sought shelter in Thailand since the
  Burmese army launched an offensive last month to stamp out the Karen
  National Union, which has waged a rebellion for more autonomy since
  1949. 

  Thailand has been criticized by the United States, European Union and
  human rights groups for denying entry to fighting-age Karen males and
  forcing hundreds of men, women and children back across the border. 

  The forced repatriations appear to have stopped, but the Thais are
  resisting appeals from human rights groups to place the Karens under the
  care of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. Thailand views the
  border people as displaced persons and maintains control over their
  camps. 

  The Bangkok Post newspaper on Sunday quoted Kachadpai Buruspattana,
  deputy chief of Thailand's National Security Council, as saying Thailand
  would facilitate a visit by the UNHCR to the refugee camps but said local
  organizations could care for them. 

  Kachadpai repeated Thailand's irritation at the international criticism,
  noting that the country has sheltered an estimated 90,000 Karens and
  other Burmese minority groups over the past decade. 

  Thailand will only send the Karens back home once fighting stops,
  Kachadpai said. 

  The Post also carried an interview with Maj. Gen. Thawip Suwansing,
  commander of the Thai army's 9th Division, who denied that the
  repatriations carried out by his troops were forced. The general said the
  refugees were all family members of Karen National Union rebels and
  asked to go back to Burma.