16/7/97: LETTER TO HON.JESSE HELMS, (r)

[uneoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Subject: Re: 16/7/97: LETTER TO HON.JESSE HELMS, THE CHAIRMAN (fwd)

> /* Written 18 Jul 6:00am 1997 by drunoo@xxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:reg.burma */
> /* --------------" Letter to Hon.Jesse Helms "----------------- */
> 
> LETTER TO HON.JESSE HELMS, U.S.CONGRESS
> ***************************************
> Dr U Ne Oo
> 48/2 Ayliffes Road
> St Marys SA 5042
> Australia
> 
> July 16, 1997.
> 
> Hon. Senator Jesse Helms
> The Chairman
> U.S.Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
> Washington DC 20510-6255
> United States of America
> 
> Dear Sir,
> 
> Firstly, I should like to thank you and fellow Congressmen for your letter
> to the Secretary of State on 30th-April-1997, expressing concerns about
> forcible repatriation of our refugees from Thailand.
> 
> I am writing to the Chairman to inform continuing volatile situation of
> Burma's refugees in Thailand. Reports have been surfaced recently that the
> Thai authorities, at the local level,  are continuing to harass and
> intimadate student activists and exiled-politician refugees. It was
> reported that the Thai police in last April had arrested and detained
> nearly 2-dozen Burmese students on the charge of illegally entering
> Thailand. Those students who were released recently from detention have
> been re-arrested by the Thai army at the refugee camp at the border. In
> another incident, some members of Burma's exiled parliamentarians were
> arrested, and then released only after paying bribes to Thai police - it
> was reported. As Thailand currently accommodate estimated 600,000 Burmese
> illegal immigrants in addition to 90,000 refugees, such disturbing
> treatment by local Thai authorities to displaced Burmese are of frequent
> occurrence.
> 
> Such incidents of abuses upon the students and political exiles occur
> because of a lack of legal and formal protection to Burmese refugees in
> Thailand. The Thai authorities, at the national level, are refusing to
> grant refugee status to the Karens and all others living in the camps,
> leaving the refugees more vulnerable. Because of the lack of such legal
> recognition of Burma's refugees, the UNHCR was unable to protect those
> refugees. The United Nations, consequently, has not been able to promote
> appropriate solution for these refugees in Thailand. I therefore request
> the U.S.Congress and Government of United States urge the Thai authorities
> to give a formal and U.N.recognized protection to the refugees from Burma.
> 
> We also received reports that Thailand will be purchasing approximately
> US$400 million worth of natural gas from Burma after[1998]. The development
> of a gas pipeline to Thailand, the project to which America's Unocal has
> 28.6 percent stake, is reported to be underway. I like to inform the
> U.S.Congress and business community in America about our intention to
> seize monies from such sale of natural gas to Thailand (preferably through
> United Nations system) and then use those funds in our refugee programs. In
> this connection, I enclosed my letter to U.N.Secretary-General Kofi Annan
> and Assistant Mr de Soto. I appeal the U.S.Congress to help us in this
> endeavour.
> 
> Finally, I like to express my sincere thanks to U.S.Congress and the
> Department of State for your continuing supports to our refugees and
> democracy movement.
> 
> Yours respectfully,
> Sd. U Ne Oo.
> 
> /* Endreport */
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> THE ABSDF PRESS RELEASE
> ***********************
> Date: 13 Jul 1997 02:31:17
> Subject: ABSDF (Press Release)
> To: Recipients of <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Date July 12,1997
> Thai Arrest 10 Burmese Students at TAMHIM Refugee Camp
> 
> On July 9,1997 Thailand's 9th Army Division arrested 10 ABSDF students
> at TAMHIM Refugee Camp in Thailand's Ratchburi district.
> 
> 10 students were among a group of 22 who had been arrested by the Thai
> authorities on April 12, 1997 for entering Thailand illegally.At the
> time of arrest,they were on their way to Bo Wi refugee camp on the
> Thai-Burma border in order to escape the Slorc offensive against the KNU's
> 4th Brigade.
> 
> On July9,1997 the 10 students were released from the Ratchburi Police
> jail after serving their sentence. They were set free near TAMHIM refugee
> camp.Afew hour later the army arrested  within the camp.
> 
> The 22 students who were arrested on April 12 were beaten at by the army
> and their belnogings confiscated.Five of them were released on July 4,and
> another hatch of 15 students were released a day later.Ten of them went
> back to the refugee camp where they were subsequently arrested.
> 
> The students are refugees fleeing the fighting and they were returning to
> the refugee camp because they had nowhere else to go.
> 
> TAMHIM is a large camp with a population of over 7,500. The Thai
> authorities have restricted the movement of the refugee since the beginning
> of last month.
> 
> All Burma Students' Democratic Front(ABSDF)
> For more information please contact - 01-654-4984, 01-923-1687
>