DATE=1/24/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KAREN-HOSTAGES(L)
NUMBER=2-258360
BYLINE=GARY THOMAS
DATELINE=BANGKOK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A group of armed insurgents from Burma's ethnic
Karen minority have taken control of a hospital in western
Thailand and is holding at least 500 staff members and
patients hostage. The group is believed to have some
connection to Karen dissidents who briefly took over the
Burmese Embassy in Bangkok last year. As VOA Southeast
Asia correspondent Gary Thomas reports from the Thai
capital, this second hostage crisis is putting Thailand in
a difficult position with its neighbor.
TEXT: A hospital, in the western town of Ratchaburi, was
taken over Monday by about 10 armed gunmen from an ethnic
Karen insurgent group. Some 500 hospital staff and
patients are believed to be hostages of the self-styled
"God's Army," a splinter group headed by twin 12-year-old
boys who are believed by their followers to possess
mystical powers.
Although shots were heard within the hospital, there are no
reports of any casualties. The hospital has been surrounded
and senior Thai officials are talking with the hostage
takers. After initial negotiations, 11 people were freed
in exchange for food.
The rebels are demanding that Thai doctors treat group
members wounded in recent clashes with Burmese troops. They
are also demanding free access across the Thai border for
their comrades.
According to Thai authorities, the hostage takers hijacked
a bus near the border with Burma Monday morning and forced
the driver to take them to Ratchaburi, some 65 kilometers
to the east. Armed with automatic weapons and grenades,
the group stormed the hospital about seven A-M.
"God's Army" is a breakaway group of the Karen National
Union, which has been fighting for autonomy from the
Rangoon government for some 50 years. The shadowy group,
believed to number only about 200, is headed by 12-year old
twin brothers Johnny and Luther Htoo. Their fanatical
followers believe the boys to be immune to bullets and
mines.
God's Army has been sheltering members of another splinter
group, the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, who took over
the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok last October. After
negotiating with Thai authorities, they were allowed to
leave the embassy and were given safe passage to the
border, much to the annoyance of the Burmese military
government.
In a message apparently aimed at the Thai government, a
Burmese spokesman said Monday it is time for the hostage
takers in Ratchaburi to be treated as terrorists by the
international community - a clear indication, say analysts,
that Rangoon will not look kindly on similar leniency this
time. (SIGNED)
NEB/GPT/FC
24-Jan-2000 05:34 AM EDT (24-Jan-2000 1034 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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