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Tension remains high at Maneeloy ce (r)

Subject: Tension remains high at Maneeloy centre

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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>Tension remains high at
Maneeloy centre<br>
</font></b><font size=3>MANEELOY, Ratchaburi -- Life may have returned to
normal for most of the residents at the Maneeloy refugee camp following
the 25-hour stand-off between five Burmese gunmen and Thai police at the
Burmese Embassy, but tension among the dissident groups remains high.
<br>
Burmese students who fled persecution in their homeland and are currently
living at the Maneeloy holding centre said the seizure of the embassy
last Friday had shaken them and other dissidents. <br>
Most are afraid that Thai authorities will began to clamp down on their
activities, which involve bringing to the world's attention the
atrocities committed by the military government in Rangoon, said a
student leader who spoke on condition of anonymity. <br>
Last Friday morning, five heavily-armed rebel students stormed the
embassy in Sathorn Road, taking 38 hostages, and demanded that their
military government release all political prisoners, establish a dialogue
with the opposition and allow a democratically-elected Parliament to
convene. <br>
>From the outset of the embassy drama, all fingers pointed to the Maneeloy
holding centre in western Ratchaburi province. <br>
The 1,028 Burmese asylum-seekers there are being screened by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, after which -- if refugee status is granted --
they will be eligible to apply for asylum in a third country. <br>
It is there that Kyaw Ni, leader of the five attackers, lived at one
time. Those who knew Kyaw Ni, referred to by the press as ''Johnny'',
describe the young man as ''a troublemaker'' and ''stubborn''. He often
gave camp officials a hard time. <br>
There were several occasions when Kyaw Ni threatened to start a riot when
things did not go his way, said a Thai official familiar with the
dissidents' activities. <br>
''No third country wanted to grant him asylum,'' said the Thai official.
<br>
In fact, Kyaw Ni created so much commotion that people at Maneeloy had to
ask him to leave. <br>
Kyaw Ni then went into the jungle where he teamed up with a number of
radical students operating in Burma's Karen state -- opposite
Ratchaburi's Suan Phung district. <br>
The Karen National Union, whose 4th Brigade also operates out of the same
area, has been quick to denounce the raid on the embassy for fear that
they will be linked to the student group. <br>
Other groups, such as the All Burmese Students Democratic Front, have
taken similar action, issuing statements condemning the hostage-takers'
action and denying any knowledge of the so-called Vigourous Student
Warriors. <br>
One student leader at Maneeloy who claimed to know Kyaw Ni and the
radical group that stormed the embassy, insisted that the students had
acted alone, without any help from other armed rebel groups. <br>
But while most dissident groups have been quick to distance themselves
from the Vigorous Student Warriors there are, nevertheless, indications
that the events of last weekend will have a detrimental effect on other
groups. <br>
In what appeared to be a knee-jerk reaction to the event, National
Security Council chief Kachadpai Burusapatana said the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees needed to hurry its work and process the
Burmese at Maneeloy to a third country. It remains to be seen if his
statement will amount to anything. <br>
Meanwhile, security officials in Ratchaburi accused the government of
being out of touch with the situation on the ground. Measures dictated
from Bangkok are not always practical and at times are difficult to carry
out, they said. <br>
There is no way the government can contain the movements and activities
of all the Burmese refugees, displaced people and asylum-seekers, said
one Thai official. <br>
''There are just too many of them,'' he said. ''For all we know, the
three guys who have yet to be identified could be walking the streets of
Bangkok.'' <br>
Judging from the number of Burmese working illegally in back-breaking
jobs for wages much lower than their Thai counterparts, the official
indeed has a point. <br>
He said that several ideas to contain the dissidents' movements had
previously been floated. Identification cards, punishment, the
establishment of prisons inside refugee camps, and even the threat of
repatriation for those violating set guidelines, have been tossed around
but nothing ever seems to come out of it, he added. <br>
''If we go too hard on the dissidents, the international community and
the UN will come down on us,'' the official continued. ''But if we let
them do whatever they want to, then their actions could come back to
haunt us.'' <br>
BY DON PATHAN <br>
The Nation<br>
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