Thailand-Myanmar row flares

Thailand-Myanmar row flares

YANGON (Agencies): A bitter row between Thailand and Myanmar
over the drugs trade along their border flared again on Tuesday,
marring the start of Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart
Sathirathai's first official visit to Yangon.

Three hilltribe villagers from Thailand were killed and five
injured when pro-Myanmar ethnic Karen guerrillas clashed with
Thai security forces at the border of the two countries early
Tuesday, Thai army and villagers said.

Troops of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked a
Thai military checkpoint at Molithai on the Thai side of the
border, about 350 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, and battered
the civilian settlement with fire from rocket propelled grenades.

Two Thai soldiers were injured in the attack. It was not clear
if the DKBA suffered any casualties.

Surakiart's trip, on the heels of an Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting here, was aimed at clearing the air
between the two neighbors who have been squabbling furiously in
recent months.

The war of words began in February when fighting between rival
ethnic militias along the border sparked a rare clash between the
two national armies.

High-level talks went some way to easing the tension, but
renewed conflict in the border region in recent days has
threatened to cause a further deterioration in relations.

Despite the rising tension, Surakiart played tourist on
Tuesday with a trip to the northern capital of Mandalay and a
sunset tour of the stunning gilded spires of the Shwedagon pagoda
in Yangon.

On Wednesday he will sit down with leaders including Foreign
Minister Win Aung and the junta's influential chief of military
intelligence Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt to try to sort out their
differences.

Hanging over their heads will be the angry accusations traded
between the neighbors, and Thailand's claims that Myanmar has
turned a blind eye to the narcotics trade which it rates as its
number-one threat to national security.

Thailand's new Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fired the
opening salvo in the debate early this year by declaring a "war
on drugs" and ordering officials to find ways to close down the
narcotics trade.

Some 700 million methamphetamines pills churned out in jungle
refineries inside Myanmar are estimated to make their way into
Thailand each year, feeding an addiction crisis estimated to
affect six percent of the population.

Just as the drugs row appeared to be simmering down, and
Surakiart and Win Aung prepared for their first meeting, tensions
were reignited late last week after the Shan State Army (SSA)
rebels raided a Myanmar border outpost.

The ruling junta accused Thailand of harboring drug criminals
by giving support to the SSA, one of the few ethnic groups not to
have signed a ceasefire agreement with Yangon.
"Various drug bandits with no intention and programs for narcotic
drug elimination are being heralded as drug-busters cum freedom
fighters by the Thai authorities," it said.

Then on Monday it accused Thailand of using its firepower to
defend the SSA by firing 30 artillery warning shots "towards
Myanmar".

"The Thai army is again coming up with an excuse to be able to
give (the SSA) an artillery fire support from across the border
creating military escalation and causing unnecessary aggravation
and tension," it said.

The Thai army was defiant on Tuesday, saying that it unleashed
warning shots when Myanmar shells aimed at the SSA strayed onto
Thai soil, endangering civilians and property.
"The Royal Thai Army has to protect our sovereignty and bring
peace and security to Thai people," it said.