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Khun Sa planning attack Against Bur



"KHUN SA PLANNING ATTACK AGAINST BURMA JUNTA"
Mae Hong Son (Thailand), Jan.14: Khun Sa soldier's, scattered in Burma
jungle since the opium warlord surrendered in 1996, are uniting into a
15000 man Army to resume their war against the government in Rangoon, a
Thai security said on Wednesday.
 The news guerrilla force recently acquired a huge cache of weapons and
Burma watchers expect a sharp surge in fighting on the coming months,
said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
 During the past three weeks, three ethnic Shan rebel forces, some
formerly led by Hun Sa, have been working together and launching
coordinated hit-and-run attacks on government troops through out central
and southern Shan state, the official said.
 A renewed guerrilla war would be setback for Burma's military
government, which has touted cease-fires with many ethnic insurgents as
one of its succe3ss.
 The rebel attacks also discredit government claims that it is in full
control of the area and show it is less likely to be able to stem the
massive flow of drugs that originates in Shan state.
 For more than a decade, Hun Sa was the kingpin of the "Golden
triangle"_ the rugged, opium rich region where the borders of Burma,
Thailand and Laos converge.
 He commanded an army that ranged between 10000 to 20000 men and
controlled the lion's share of the area's traffic in opium, the raw
material for Heroin.  As time went by, however, rival opium armies
sprang up, diminishing his power.
 More than sixty percent of the Heroin sold in United States comes from
the Golden Triangle.  Burma was the world's largest Heroin producer
until 1997 when it was overtaken by Afghanistan.
 Khun Sa was indicted on Heroin trafficking charges by a US court, and
Burma's military government branded him a narco-terrorist, vowing to
hang him if it captured him.
 Weakened by splits in his Army, Khun Sa surrender to the Burmese in
January 1996.
The government refused to extradite him to the US to prosecute him under
Burmese law.
 Instead, it pardoned the opium lord, installed him in a villa in
Rangoon and granted him business concessions.
 Khun Sa, who is self-Chinese and also known as Chang Chifu, claimed his
drug activities funded the Shan liberation struggle.
 Burma is one of the most ethnically diverse nations on earth, and the
government has long struggled to bring unityby negotiation or forceto
the country.
 Many of Khun Sa's former soldiers were  appalled by hie decision to
surrender.  In small, separate bands they continued what seemed a futile
fight against the Burmese Army, which has grown from 185,000 in1988 to
more than 400,000 troops today.
 The three largest guerrilla groups were the Shan United Revolutionary
Army, which was not formerly controlled by Khun Sa, the Shan State
National Army and the Shan State Army.
 The last two had reluctantly signed cease-fire agreements with the
Rangoon government.
The three have said they plan to merge under the name the Shan State
Army, commanded by Gen. Sao San Nawng, with a political wing called the
Shan State National Organization.
 In a statement on Wednesday, the SSA said it had sent Gen. Sao to
Rangoon to seek recognition of the group by the military government.
The government turned the offer down, however, and launched an offensive
against the rebels, the statement said.  "One thing is certain, it would
not please Rangoon. And it would do its best to destroy our unity, " the
statement quoted a commander named Yodserk as saying.  Rangoon weakened
many ethnic liberation movement by engineering splits in their ranks and
keeping them divided. (AP)

>From Asian Age
Date 15th January'98