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.