Nando - Myanmar troops may be prepa

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Subject: Nando - Myanmar troops may be preparing to cross Thai border

Myanmar troops may be preparing to cross Thai border

MAE HONG SON, Thailand (October 10, 1999 7:21 a.m) - Troops from Myanmar are
pouring into border regions opposite Thailand's northern Mae Hong Son
province and may be preparing to attack refugee camps in Thailand, sources
said Sunday.

Ethnic minority leaders and Thai intelligence sources said an attack may be
planned to retaliate for the seizure earlier this month of Yangon's embassy
in Bangkok by pro-democracy student gunmen.

A senior Thai intelligence source told AFP he estimated that the number of
Yangon's troops in the area had increased in recent days from some 10,000 to
between 20,000 and 30,000.

The Yangon junta closed the 1,440 miles border after five gunmen stormed its
Bangkok embassy Oct. 1, holding nearly 40 people hostage for 24-hours.

The gunmen, who initially called for the junta to hold talks with the
democratic opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, were later provided with an
escape helicopter to the border by Thai authorities.

Myanmar officials while thanking Thailand for ending the hostage drama
peacefully have also accused Bangkok of being too soft on the gunmen, and
pressured authorities here to get tough with exiled dissidents.

They say the border camps harbor armed anti-junta forces and called Saturday
for Thailand to use an "iron first" to wipe out terrorism.

Meanwhile, the U.N. refugee agency Friday said it had completed the movement
of refugees from Huay Kalok camp in northwestern Tak province deeper inside
Thailand to reduce the risk of cross-border raids by junta-backed guerrilla
forces.

Thailand hosts some 100,000 Myanmar refugees, mainly of Karen and Karenni
ethnic origins, who have fled suppression of ethnic insurgencies in
military-run Myanmar.

Last year, several Karen refugees were killed and thousands were made
homeless when guerrilla forces backed by the junta raided camps on Thai
territory.

After the storming of the embassy, Thailand said it would increase security
at diplomatic missions and crack down on several thousand exiled Myanmar
students believed living here.

Bangkok and Yangon have been engaged in an escalating war of words over the
crisis, with senior Thai ministers arguing that the hostage-taking
reinforced the need for democratic change inside military-ruled Myanmar.

But Yangon has angrily denied any responsibility.