1 The chairman of Burma's ruling junta said Sunday that ethnic groups still at war with the government were pushing their members into a 'bloodbath.'
2 Government troops, meanwhile, maintained their siege of the last major ethnic insurgent base, keeping up their shelling of Karen guerrillas at Kawmoorah, in eastern Burma near the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
3 Speaking on the annual Union Day holiday, Gen. Than Shwe said internal strife that has bedeviled the nation for decades still affects remote areas.
4 'Due to the insurgency, the nationals suffered all kinds of hardship and misery, death and injury, their villages and homes put to the torch, and their farms, roads, bridges, hospitals and schools destroyed,' he said.
5 The government's reconciliation policy has led 13 insurgent groups to end their fight and join hands with the military for the welfare of the nation, Than Shwe said.
6 But, he added, 'there still remain some groups which are still misled and continue to commit destructive acts under influence of aliens, turning a blind eye to the welfare of the states and the nationals.
7 'It is deplorable that the groups suppress their members' wish for making peace and are attempting to push them towards bloodbath,' he said.
8 Union Day marks the anniversary of the 1947 Panglong Agreement, which asserted the semiautonomous rights of ethnic minority regions within the Burmese union in preparation for independence, granted by Britain in 1948.
9 Neverthless, mutual distrust remained and ethnic minorities have been at war with the central government since before the country attained independence.
10 In recent years, however, many groups have concluded cease-fires with the government.
11 Late last month, government troops captured the longtime headquarters of the Karen National Union, the last major ethnic insurgent group still fighting. The fall of the camp at Manerplaw, 240 kilometers (150 miles) east of Rangoon, caused thousands of Karen civilians to flee across the river border to Thailand. The group's guerrillas scattered to other points along the border.
12 Burmese forces have been besieging another Karen camp at Kawmoorah, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Manerplaw, but have been unable to drive out its defenders despite sometimes massive shelling, which continued on a reduced scale Sunday.
13 Exile rebel sources in Thailand, meanwhile, told The Associated Press Sunday that a propaganda campaign by the Rangoon government appeared to be effective in inducing defections among the Karen. They said about 1,000 Karen have left refugee camps in Thailand in the past three days to cross back into Burma and rally to the government side.
14 The government campaign takes advantage of a religious split in the Karen ranks, as well as a general war-weariness.
15 Long-simmering tension between the mostly Christian Karen leadership and the lower ranks, mostly Buddhist, turned into an open revolt last December.
16 Although the revolt was suppressed, members of the breakaway Buddhist group later served as guides and otherwise aided Burmese troops in their successful six-day offensive against Manerplaw.
17 Opposition sources said Sunday that about 50 members of the breakaway group have been visiting refugee camps in Thailand to try to persuade Karen refugees to return to the government side in Burma.
18 They said returnees are given some pocket money and promised good housing on their return.

The chairman of Burma ' s ruling junta said Sunday that ethnic groups still at war with the government were pushing their members into a " bloodbath . "
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