KAREN leaders asks Thai army to hel

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Subject: KAREN leaders asks Thai army to help negotiate peace with Myanmar

Karen leader asks Thai army to help negotiate peace with Myanmar
By MICOOL BROOKE
 TAK, Thailand (AP) -- As the Myanmar military shelled one of his
key bases on Saturday, the leader of the Karen guerrilla army
called on Thailand's generals to help negotiate peace with the
government in Yangon.
   Gen. Bo Mya, president of the Karen National Union, made the
appeal as Chinese-made mortar shells rained down on Do Lo Khe, the
headquarters of his 7th Brigade not far from the border with
Thailand. Thai army sources said the Myanmar military was
determined to capture the base.
   Gen. Bo Mya told The Associated Press he fully supports any
involvement by the Royal Thai Army in negotiating a peace
settlement between the KNU and the Burmese government.
   "I warmly welcome any help the Thai army commander can give us
in obtaining peace. We would be very happy to have the Thai army
help negotiate a cease fire settlement."
 
During his recent visit to Yangon, Gen. Surayud Chulanont,
Thailand's army commander in chief, told Burma's leader Gen. Than
Shwe that Thailand wanted to see a negotiated settlement to the
dispute between the government and the rebels.
   Gen. Than Shwe is scheduled to visit Thailand on March 8-9 when
the issue is likely to be raised again for discussion, as fighting
between the Karen and the Myanmar army frequently spills over on to
Thai soil.
   The Karen have been fighting for autonomy from successive
governments in Yangon for 50 years. Once a powerful army, the Karen
fighters have been reduced to guerrilla units holding slivers of
territory near the Thai border and staging hit and run attacks on
the Myanmar army.
   A series of cease fire negotiations in recent years between KNU
leaders and representatives of Myanmar's military government
stalled and eventually broke off.
   The Karen, and other ethnic insurgents, were once supported by
the Thais as a buffer between them and their traditional enemies
the Burmese. Myanmar is also known as Burma.
   Since the early 1990s, however, relations have gradually warmed
between the two countries and Thailand has withdrawn its support
 
Myanmar's opening to foreign investment during the same period
has allowed it to beef up its army to more than 400,000 troops and
obtain more sophisticated weaponry.
   More than 100,000 mostly Karen refugees are living in camps
inside Thailand. Bo Mya said he wanted to see a negotiated
settlement and true peace so his people could go home.
   Meanwhile Saturday, Karen commanders said that nine battalions
from Myanmar's 22nd Light Infantry Division deployed to attack the
7th brigade headquarters had become bogged down in the mine-fields
surrounding the rebel base and the Myanmar army commander had
called for artillery support to take the pressure off his troops.
   A spokesman for 7th Brigade commander, Gen. Htain Maung, told
The AP by telephone that 155 millimeter artillery pieces had fired
more than 30 rounds on Friday and Saturday at the rebel base to
cover the army's advance.                                            




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