Myanmar rejects Thai grip over intrusion
Myanmar rejects Thai grip over intrusion
BANGKOK (Reuter): Myanmar has rejected a recent Thai complaint over an alleged violent incursion into Thailand by Myanmarese army troops, Myanmar's state-run media reported.
The rejection, in a protest letter this week, is the latest in a series of complaints and accusations exchanged between the two countries and comes on the eve of a trip to Yangon by Thai Foreign Minister Krasae Chanavongse.
Myanmar's state television, in a news broadcast monitored in Bangkok late on Thursday, said Thailand's ambassador to Myanmar Poksak Nilubol was summoned to the Myanmarese Foreign Ministry and handed a letter rejecting a March 20 Thai complaint over an alleged raid into Thailand by Myanmarese troops.
"The protest letter presented by the Myanmar (Burmese) Foreign Ministry states that (Burmese) soldiers were in no way involved in that incident," the television said.
The incident was connected to a split in Myanmar's Karen National Union (KNU) guerrilla group, the television said.
Accusations that Myanmarese government troops were involved in such incidents could create unnecessary misunderstandings between the two countries, the broadcast added.
Normally cordial relations between the two neighbors have been strained since the beginning of the year when a Myanmarese army offensive against the KNU sent thousands of refugees into Thailand.
Hundreds of Myanmarese army shells landed on the Thai side of the border in attacks on KNU bases on Myanmar's side, forcing hundreds of Thai villagers to flee their homes.
Local Myanmarese army commanders accused Thai forces in February of assisting the autonomy-seeking guerrillas who operate out of areas of Myanmar on the border with Thailand. Thai commanders rejected the accusations.
Thailand has lodged several complaints about Myanmarese soldiers and members of a Karen guerrilla splinter faction which recently joined Myanmarese government forces crossing the border to harass and attack refugees and Thais.
In another incident, Myanmarese media, citing an official from the ruling military body, last month deplored Thailand's refusal to hand over a group of Shan guerrillas who had fled to Thailand after a raid on a northeast Myanmarese border town.
Krasae flew to Yangon early yesterday and was set to meet Myanmarese counterpart Ohn Gyaw during the day and the military government's intelligence chief, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, today, a Thai Foreign Ministry official said.