BKK POST.February 11, 1998.Task for

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February 11, 1998.Task force to  relocate refugees
                            Foreign agencies promise to help

              Cheewin Sattha 
              Mae Hong Son

              Some 1,000 members of security forces and officials will be
              mobilised to help transfer more than 12,000 Karen refugees
              from the Salween National Park to a refugee camp in Sop Moei
              District starting tomorrow.

              A border official said the Salween Special Task Force will send
              soldiers, local and border patrol police, rangers and other
              officials to help facilitate the orderly transfer of more 12,000
              Burmese war refugees from the Salween National Park to Mae
              Lama Luang Camp in Sop Moei District in an attempt to
              suppress illegal logging along the border.

              The operation will simultaneously start at Ban Mae Yae Tha and
              Ban Pho Sor in Sop Ngae, some 88 kilometres from the Mae
              Sariang district town, where more than 2,000 refugees reside.

              Many foreign non-governmental organisations have agreed to
              support the transfer with more than 20 six-and four-wheel
              trucks, the source added.

              According to the source, the operation is expected to last about
              one month due to inadequate security and shortage of vehicles as
              well as resistance from some of the refugees.

              Another official responsible for the transfer said concerned
              officials had been informed that some of the refugees who were
              politically active against Rangoon would take a huge number of
              hidden war weapons with them.

              According to the source, almost 1,000 of all refugees under the
              transfer plan are Burmese students.

              On Monday, Mae Hong Son governor Pakdi Chomphooming
              met representatives of the Third Army and government agencies
              at the Third Army headquarters to work out measures to control
              these refugees and suppress illegal logging in the Salween forest.

              On the same day, the chairman and members of the House
              Committee on Local Administration inspected the Salween forest
              and monitored the refugee transfer preparations.