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NEWS - Myanmar Rebels Prepare for G



Subject: NEWS - Myanmar Rebels Prepare for Government Offensive

Myanmar Rebels Prepare for Government Offensive

            AP
            01-JAN-99

            CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) -- Every year in Myanmar, when
            the rainy season ends and roads to the eastern border dry
            out, rebellious ethnic minorities anticipate a fresh army
            offensive aimed at crushing their independence. 

            The latest offensive appeared under way today as 1999
            began, with skirmishes reported as Myanmar's military
            government built up its forces and rag-tag rebels formed a
            new alliance to oppose them. Government troops and ethnic
            Karenni rebels exchanged small arms fire and mortar shells
            at dawn, Thai military officials said. 

            "It's a matter of days before the fighting reaches the
border
            area," said Maj. Gen. Chamlong Photong, chief-of-staff of
            the Thai army along the border with Myanmar. 

            The government in Yangon, the Myanmar capital, pursues a
            divide-and-conquer strategy in an effort to rule the
            hodgepodge of ethnic groups arrayed along the 1,500-mile
            Thai-Myanmar border. 

            More than 100,000 refugees from Myanmar, also known as
            Burma, live in border camps inside Thailand. Many tell
            stories of rape, torture and forced labor by Myanmar
            government troops. 

            The dry-season offensives usually end with a new wave of
            refugees fleeing across the rugged frontier into Thailand.
            The army usually consolidates its position, and the rebels
            generally win back some territory when monsoons return
            around May. 

            Thailand expects to see a bigger Myanmar army offensive
            than usual this year and is mobilizing its own troops to
keep

            fighting from spilling over the border. 

            Several Myanmar battalions have been deployed in the
            border area, the Thais say. Thai military intelligence has
            reported clashes between ethnic groups and government
            forces in recent days. 

            However, a Myanmar government official, speaking on
            condition of anonymity, suggested that the reported buildup
            was exaggerated and that "in countering guerrilla tactics,
            one doesn't use huge manpower or heavy weapons." 

            Facing Myanmar's forces are fractious rebel bands that have
            made and broken deals with each other and the central
            government since the country gained independence from
            Britain half a century ago. 

            Some groups produce and smuggle opium, heroin and
            amphetamines to raise money for arms and for their personal
            wealth. 

            This year, one group, the Shan State Army, is trying to shed
            its image as a tool of notorious drug lord Khun Sa, who
            surrendered in an amnesty deal to the government three
            years ago. 

            Khun Sa wore two hats -- as nationalist fighter for the Shan
            minority and as one of the world's biggest heroin
traffickers.
            His organization, the Mong Tai Army, disbanded with his
            surrender. 

            The Shan State Army, a component of the Mong Tai Army,
            says it is now composed purely of ethnic nationalists and is
            teaming up with the Karenni National Progressive Party, a
            smaller organization not implicated in the drug trade. 

            The Shan State Army has asked the United States and
            Thailand to help it staunch the flow of drugs, and the Thais
            have welcomed their efforts. 

            The biggest achievement of Myanmar's current military rulers
            has been signing cease-fires with most of the ethnic
            minorities in the mid-1990s, even as it keeps up military
            pressure. 

            In December 1994, the army ousted the Karen National
            Union from their longtime headquarters in the southeastern
            town of Manerplaw. 

            The government later reached a cease-fire with another
            southern group, the New Mon State Army, allowing Yangon
            to build a $1.2 billion gas pipeline to Thailand through
their
            area. 

            The Karenni signed a cease-fire with the government in
            1995, but the deal broke down the following year over
            disputes involving the lucrative timber trade.