BKK POST: THAI-BURMESE BORDER /

[suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

March 20, 1998


                                     



              THAI-BURMESE BORDER / CONFLICT RETURNS

              Rangoon resumes
              dyke building 

              Burmese refuse to heed Thai protests

              Mae Sot

              In defiance of repeated protests from the Thai government,
              Rangoon has resumed construction of a concrete dyke in the
              Moei River which demarcates the Thai-Burmese border.

              A border source said that the Burmese military in Myawaddy
              had mobilised men, women, children and construction equipment
              to start piling work about 50 metres into the river. Dredgers have
              been busy sucking sand from the riverbed for use in the
              construction.

              The source said that the dyke had been extended from about
              500 metres to almost one kilometre long running parallel to the
              river bank.

              A border official said Burmese authorities did not heed the Thai
              protests because they were not backed up with pressure from
              the Thai government.

              He said that when the Burmese demanded that a row of
              shophouses and stalls built near the friendship bridge be
              dismantled as a condition of the reopening of the border, Thai
              authorities responded without any bargaining power.

              The border was shut for about a year between March 1995 and
              March 1996 by Rangoon.

              Meanwhile, pro-Rangoon Karen guerrillas killed a man and his
              wife and seriously wounded their son when they robbed the
              couple's shop in Mae Ramat district yesterday, police said.

              According to the police, eight guerrillas of the Democratic Karen
              Buddhist Army crossed the border into Ban Huay Phai about
              1.30 a.m.

              Three of them stormed into a shop selling miscellaneous items,
              while the rest went into a nearby house where a group of people
              were watching video tapes and forced them at gunpoint to
              remain silent.

              At the shop, the raiders opened fire at Boonsi Konlom, 56, and
              hs wife Uan, 45, killing them instantly. Their son Pakasit, 37, was
              seriously wounded in the right ankle. His bag containing 3,000
              baht in cash was taken away. The robbers also went upstairs but
              did not harm four people sleeping there.

              The intruders fled back into Burma after the robbery.

              Meanwhile in Mae Hong Son, border patrol police have been
              accused of collaborating with a logging company in undertaking
              illegal logging near the Thai-Burmese border, border security
              sources said.

              A large number of logs are reported to have been felled in the
              Mae Pai National Reserve and processed less than 100 metres
              away from an operation base of a BPP unit near Ban Doi Saeng
              border pass.

              The logs are allegedly being stored at the base and at a logging
              company, the sources said.

              A number of Burmese soldiers have been allegedly hired to take
              the processed wood to the base.

              According to the sources, the Police Department is preparing to
              launch an investigation into the allegation and take action against
              the officers involved.

              Sayan Sangsuang, Pai district chief, has asked the governor to
              investigate a group of forestry officials for alleged involvement in
              illegal logging.




                                     




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Last Modified: Fri, Mar 20, 1998