JUNTA SPURNS TRUCE OVERTURE FROM SHAN

Rangoon Says Rebels Must Lay Down Arms

Burma's military government brushed aside an olive branch yesterday from
the largest rebel force still fighting its grip on the country, saying the
Shan State Army (SSA) would have to surrender if it wanted peace.

SSA commander Yawd Serk said he wanted Thailand to mediate truce talks with
the junta. But he said the SSA, which has battled Burmese troops in the
volatile Golden Triangle region for years, would not lay down its weapons.

A senior Burmese military intelligence officer said the junta regarded the
SSA as nothing more than a splinter group of the Mong Tai Army (MTA) of
former opium warlord Khun Sa, who surrendered in 1996 with many of his troops.

"There is no way we will have peace negotiations with the (SSA) because
they are a splinter group of the MTA that has already surrendered
unconditionally to the government," Lieutenant-Colonel San Pwint said.

"But if they want to exchange their weapons for peace, they are welcome."

The military, which has ruled Burma since 1962, has often cited the danger
to national unity posed by rebellious ethnic minorities as a justification
for its grip on power.

Over the past decade the junta has pursued a policy of seeking deals with
rebel groups, and has reached peace agreements with 17 of them.

But three major groups still stand against Rangoon - the SSA, the Karenni
National Progressive Party and the Karen National Union (KNU). The first
two are separatist groups while the KNU is fighting for greater autonomy in
a federal, democratic Burma.

Army commander Surayud Chulanont doubts if truce talks between minority
rebel groups and Rangoon will solve border or drugs problems.

"Burma has problems with ethnic minority groups but it doesn't mean such
talks would end drug trafficking. It's not the same issue," he said.

Gen Surayud said the army would not act as a mediator for ethnic rebels and
the Burmese government, saying the matter had to be handled by the government.

"We are responsible for border security. We will deal with any armed groups
which cross the border," he said.

Co-operation in the drugs fight would be top of the agenda when Burmese
army chief Maung Aye visited Thailand on April 23-26.

"The drug situation remains the same. There's not much progress. It is
irrelevant to relations between Thailand and Burma," Gen Surayud said.