By WAI MOE
Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the Burmese junta leader, met with Thailand’s Army Chief Gen Anupong Paojinda on Tuesday to discuss the Rohingya boat people issue, the state-run The New Light of Myanmar reported.
The newspaper said Than Shwe, along with the junta’s No.2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, and No.3, Gen Shwe Mann, received Anupong and his delegation in Naypyidaw. Maung Aye welcomed Anupong at Naypyidaw Airport.
Thai Supreme Commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabat visited Burma in January to talk with the junta on the Rohingya boat people issue. Songkitti met with Maung Aye and failed to meet with Than Shwe at the time.
Analysts said Anupong’s meeting with Than Shwe gives the issue more chance of achieving some meaningful conclusion.
Before leaving for Burma, Anupong told reporters he expected to discuss border issues and the Rohingya boat people.
Elements in the Thai military are under investigation for allegedly forcing an estimated 1,000 Rohingya boat people back to sea last December in boats without engines and insufficient food and water, according to Thailand’s The Nation. Hundreds are believed to have died at sea.
The Burmese junta rejects the claims of the Rohingya people, who live in Arakan State in western Burma, as an ethnic of Burma, claiming Rohingya are from Bangladesh. The Burmese army launched military offensives against the Rohingya population in 1991. An estimated 250,000 refugees fled to Bangladesh.
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