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SALWEEN WATCH HOTMAIL OUT Salween Watch Update February 2003, Volume 13 XXxx<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<o0XxxX0o>>>>>>>>>>>>>>xxXX 11. Govt `plays a role in ethnic cleansing' Achara Ashayagachat, Bangkok Post: January 28, 2003 Government policy to crack down on ethnic minorities along the Thai-Burmese border had indirectly supported Rangoon's ``ethnic cleansing'' but would not result in Burma giving drug suppression assistance, a seminar was told yesterday. Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the government's raid on human rights activists, especially of ethnic minorities along the border, was an indirect collaboration with Rangoon.Its economic failure had forced the State Peace and Development Council to depend on drug money from the Wa group. Their collusion to wipe out other ethnic groups, especially the Shan, was ignored by the United Nations, Mr Kraisak said. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees had refused help or sanctuary to those being harassed and deported by Thai authorities, Mr Kraisak told a seminar on "Wa: Problems and Solutions to Thailand's Security'' at Chulalongkorn University. The Thaksin Shinawatra government had embarked on controversial mega projects, for example the Salween Dam, which would become another excuse for ethnic cleansing as it would destroy the Shan people's land, he said. Maung Maung, representing the Organisation of Burmese Trade Unions, said the so-called offices of the ethnic activists recently raided by Thai authorities were, in fact, information centres. The crackdown had crippled efforts to obtain new information on human rights abuses including forced labour and the use of rape as a weapon against ethnic minorities inside Burma. He suggested the government pursue a dual track policy -dealing with Burma at governmental level, but also having a humanitarian policy towards ethnic minorities to find a sustainable way of eradicating drugs. Zin Mei, a Shan representative, said the Shan people had been manipulated by drug traffickers and suffered raped by armed groups, including Burmese troops. Unless the international community intervened in Burmese politics, drugs and ethnic cleansing would never be eradicated. "If Thailand would like to help ethnic people, why do they give assistance through the Burmese government and Wa, and not directly to other ethnic people,'' she asked.
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