EVACUATION OF GUERRILLAS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27193, 10 November 1953, Page 11

EVACUATION OF GUERRILLAS

CHINESE LEAVING BURMA (Rec. 7 p.m.) RANGOON, November 8. The Nationalist Chinese guerrillas, who have been operating in Burma, have begun to leave for Formosa. The first group to reach an evacuation centre on the border of Burma and Siam was led by General Li Huo-Hui, famed as a jungle fighter. Remnants of Nationalist units which fled from South China when their homeland was overrun by the Communists, have been operating in Burma since 1949. They are believed to number 12,000. Their presence in Burma was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly last April. After months of negotiations, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek’s Government agreed to the evacuation of 2000 of them by air to Formosa. Burma has arranged a cease-fire until November 15 while they are taken there. United States, Siamese, and Chinese Nationalist military officers are supervising the evacuation. After these 2000 men are evacuated, the Chinese Nationalist Government has promised to disown any of its troops remaining on Burmese soil. Burma will then treat others as “outlaws and bandits.” The guerrillas, who came out of the jungle-clad hills today, looked lean and hungry, but fit They included two girls, one married to a soldfer, and several young boys, some of whom appeared to be the sons of veteran guerrillas.