Bangkok Post (9/8/99)

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

<bold>An exiled Burmese student holds the blood-stained arm of his
colleague at a rally outside the Burmese embassy in Bangkok yesterday.
The event was held to commenmorate the 11th anniversary of the brutal
crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Burma by the military junta.
--Kosol Nakachol 

</bold>__________________________________________________  


<bold>Path to war becomes roadway for trade

Southern gateway to boost business links

</bold>


Nauvarat Suksamran



A centuries-old war path between Thailand and Burma will be transformed
into a friendly trade route when a 120km highway linking Kanchanaburi
province with the Burmese coastal city of Tavoy is completed in 2001.


Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn once visited the
western province of Kanchanaburi and found a number of turtle eggs,
marine products and forest materials from the nearby Andaman coast of
Burma.


The princess then suggested a route be opened to link the coast with
Kanchanaburi. This encouraged the private sector in the province to push
for a road.


"We keep Her Royal Highness informed of the progress on the
trans-national route project," said Sompop Thirasan, secretary to the
Federation of Kanchanaburi Industries.


At present, the southern province of Ranong is the only gateway for
people and cargo to and from populous southern Burma, and on to 
Rangoon.


The new route through Kanchanaburi will be a major short cut.


The Federation of Kanchanaburi Industries-through its Kanchanaburi Dawi
and Development Co, which is a Thai-Burmese joint venture-has been
campaigning for the road for five years.


The Burmese government has just recently given permission for the company
to begin construction of the new route.


"The construction of the Thai-Burmese highway should begin later this
year," said Mr Sompop who is also the vice-chairman of the company.


The 1.2-billion-baht route is planned as a two-lane asphalt highway.


It will stretch 120km from Kanchanaburi to Tavoy, a coastal city in
southern Burma.


Labour will be drawn from the Karen people, who still occupy much of the
area where the route will pass.


It is expected that on its completion the road will lead to the
development of bordering industrial estates in Kanchanaburi, a deep-sea
port in Tavoy and an active tourism business between Thailand and 
Burma.


It is also expected to slow the influx of Burmese and Karen immigrants
into Thailand because they will find work in their homeland with the hen
new industries that will emerge, said Mr Sompop. 


Originally, the Federation of Kanchanaburi Industries planned the
Thai-Burmese route on an old, unofficial border pass called Huay
Mong-Bongti in Ban Thaimuang village of Sai Yoke district, 
Kanchanaburi.


That route was shorter, only 100km, but there were environmental and
security problems because it would pass through a watershed and a
mountainous forest that currently marks the border.


A detour was added and the road will cross the border through the Ban
Phunamron village in tambon Ban Kao of Muang district. 

____________________________________ 


<bold>Rise in visitors to Burma spurs call for border pass

Preecha Srisathan

</bold>


More audacious tourists are entering Burma through Kanchanaburi's Thong
Pha Phum district, giving rise to demands for the opening of a new border
pass to accommodate them. The popular route starts from Ban Etong, cuts
through Burma's Ban Hing Gong where the Yadana gas pipeline enters
Thailand, and ends at Kawthaung.


Security screening at Ban Etong is done by the army and is tight as it is
not a proper border crossing.


Tourists passing through must have clearance from the army, which takes
up to seven days to obtain.


A coordinator for the tourists, who declined to be named, said Burmese
authorities did not object to opening a new pass because it trusted the
army would do a good job screening tourists.


Burma would also benefit from the increased income.


Normally, a maximum 20 tourists are allowed into Burma on each tour. The
all-inclusive package costs 4,000-8,000 baht per head with accommodation
in Burma's southern coastal city of Tavoy.


Since the pipeline was linked, 11 trips had been made. Some stopped at
Tavoy, 140 kilometres from Kanchanaburi border, while others went further
to Kawthaung, also known as Victoria Point, opposite Ranong, which is
another five hours by speed boat.


The land journey to Tavoy is safe, with Burmese soldiers constantly
policing the pipeline route to prevent sabotage, the co-ordinator said.


Tavoy is a major port city of six million people. With a diverse ethnic
population of Mon and Karen, it produces mostly fishery products, rubber
and betel nuts. Fresh seafood is also exported to Kanchanaburi.


The city was once part of Thailand, but it was annexed by Burmese forces
after a war with Thailand. 


Large sections of the population still speak recognisable Thai and show
traces of the Thai cultural heritage. 


Brigadier Maung U, deputy commander of Burma's coastal patrol, said he
favoured opening a permanent border crossing because it would encourage
tourism and investment. He gave an assurance the Ban Etong-Kawthaung
route was safe.

___________________________________ 


<bold>NARCOTICS SUPPRESSION



Drug gang kills ranger in clash

Half-hour shootout near the border



Wassana Nanuam and Thirawat Kamthita

</bold>


One paramilitary ranger was shot dead in a clash with suspected drug
traffickers near the Thai-Burmese border in Chiang Rai province
yesterday.


A 20-man unit of the 3104th ranger company was on a routine patrol in the
mountainous terrain of Tambon Mae Salong Nai, Mae Fa Luang district, at
about 9am when they came across a 40-member armed band, thought to be Wa
or Muser drug traffickers.


The rangers ordered the armed men to stop for a search only to be shot
at.


This triggered off a firefight which lasted almost half an hour.


After the gunshots died down, the rangers found one of their colleagues,
Somkid Mingyai, shot dead at the scene.


Army sources said that the fighting scene was close to a H'mong hilltribe
village known to be a hotbed of drug trafficking.


Several other villages in the region such as Ban San Maded, Ban Hua
Maekham and Ban H'mong Kao Land have been identified by Thai authorities
as transit stops for methamphetamine smugglers.


The pills were smuggled in from Burmese territory controlled by the
United Wa State Army.


A senior army officer, meanwhile, dismissed the recent claim by a UWSA
officer that the the UWSA has acquired most of its income from the trade
in precious gemstones.


"From the army information, there are no precious gemstone sources of
commercial value in the Wa-controlled territories. 


"If there are plenty of precious stones as claimed, then I suppose they
mean the precious stones being worn by the Wa officers which were bought
with drug money," said the officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.


He claimed that 99% of the UWSA's revenue came from drug trafficking and
the rest from the timber trade.


He pointed out that the San Ton Du border pass in Mae Ai district of
Chiang Mai, which was closed down last week, was not a major drug 
route.


But, he said, it was an important corridor through which many supplies
such as oil and construction materials were delivered to the Wa for the
development of their capital, Mong Yawn.


He also reiterated that the army would not allow the opening of another
border pass at Ban San Maded as requested by some Thai traders who have
business interests with the Wa.


The border will be reopened only when the Wa has stopped producing
narcotic drugs, he said


________________________________