[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
Bangkok siege 'stank of conspiracy' (r)
<html>
<br>
<font size=5><b>Bangkok siege 'stank of
conspiracy'</font></b><font size=3> <br>
<br>
</font><font size=2>Hostages inside the embassy during the
siege</font><font size=3> <br>
<br>
<b>By the BBC's Charlotte Bevan in Bangkok</b> <br>
In its Wednesday edition, Burma's state media, the New Light of Myanmar,
said the siege at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok over the weekend could
have a negative impact on the relationship between Thailand and Burma.
<br>
While officially Burmese military leaders are telling the Thais that they
are relieved at the peaceful end to the siege, Burma's state media --
renowned for its use of strong language -- said that the whole embassy
affair was fishy to say the least, and stank of conspiracy. <br>
<table border=0>
<tr><td width=158></td></tr>
<tr><td width=158></td></tr>
</table>
After holding 40 people hostage for 26 hours, the gunmen were transported
by helicopter to the Thai/Burma border last Saturday with no-one being
seriously injured. <br>
Thailand's prime minister has admitted that lapses in intelligence and
security resulted in the embassy being taken by storm. <br>
In a move that is likely to appease the Burmese authorities however, Thai
security officials met to review the prevention of international
terrorism on Thai soil. <br>
<br>
<b>Students under surveillance</b> <br>
They have announced a crackdown on an estimated 2,000 exiled Burmese
students living in Bangkok and at a holding centre on the Thai/Burma
border west of the capital, called Maneeloy, which was set up four years
ago. <br>
<table border=0>
<tr><td width=158></td></tr>
<tr><td width=158></td></tr>
</table>
Thai authorities believe it is from this open centre that the gunmen who
took the Embassy by siege originated. <br>
The secretary-general of Thailand's National Security Council said
students at Maneeloy and living in Bangkok would no longer be able to
roam freely. <br>
All 2,000 would have to be registered with the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees. If considered illegal migrants, they would be
deported. <br>
If not, once registered, they would be moved to Maneeloy where security
would also be tightened up. <br>
The National Security chief also said that the authorities would be
talking with UNHCR to speed up the process of sending these students to
third countries. <br>
But a UNHCR spokesman said that that would be difficult because the
process depended on third countries themselves being prepared to take the
refugees. <br>
Thailand's national security chief did not indicate what action would be
taken against Burmese students living freely in Chieng-Mai. <br>
Many of those left Burma after the government's brutal repression of
democracy activists in 1988.<br>
<br>
<br>
</font>
<BR>
</html>