U.S., exiles slam Myanmar on Karen

[RANGOONP@xxxxxxx]

U.S., exiles slam Myanmar on Karen refugees raid

BANGKOK, March 12 (Reuters) - The United States and a group of exiled pro-
democracy supporters lashed out at the Myanmar (Burmese) military government
on Thursday for attacking a Karen refugee camp in Thailand earlier this week. 

``The United States condemns the attack by armed elements associated with
Burma's State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) on unarmed civilians in a
Karen refugee camp in Thailand on Tuesday, March 10,'' U.S. State Department
spokesman James Rubin said in a statement obtained in Bangkok. 

About 50 armed members of the Kayin (Karen) Buddhist Democracy Army (DKBA),
backed by Myanmar government solders, crossed the Moei River in northwestern
Thailand and attacked the Huay Kalok refugee camp around midnight on March 10,
Thai border patrol police said. 

They said the soldiers killed at least two Karen refugees and injured 22. 

The refugees fled in panic and the raiders then torched the camp, destroying
more than 1,500 shanty houses in which the 9,000 refugees had lived, police
said. 

The National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB), made up of pro-democracy
exiles from Myanmar, issued a statement condemning the attack and the Myanmar
junta which supported it. 

``It is a heinous and detestable act to launch a military attack against a
refugee camp which has nothing to do with military matters,'' an NCUB
statement said. ``This act of inhumanity has lowered the dignity of the
country in the eyes of the world.'' 

The United States also condemned the Myanmar government and urged it to find a
solution to ethnic problems and put an end to violence. 

``We call on the government of Burma to end its campaign of terror and
violence against ethnic minorities and instead to engage in dialogue with the
ethnic groups and with the National League for Democracy (NLD) to bring about
national reconciliation in Burma,'' Rubin said. 

The Buddhist-DKBA split from the predominantly Christian Karen National Union
(KNU) in 1994 and has been fighting its former comrades with assistance from
Yangon ever since. 

The KNU continues to battle Myanmar's military government for autonomy for the
Karen state. 

More than 100,000 Karen refugees -- followers and family members of the KNU
who fled the fighting in Myanmar -- have lived in sprawling refugee camps just
inside Thailand since 1984. ^REUTERS@