Thousands of Myanmar villagers poised to flee violence to Thailand, group says

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Villagers who fled Myanmar's Ee Thu Hta displacement camp rest in Mae Hong Son province, Thailand, near the border while fleeing from gunfire between ethnic minority Karen insurgents and Myanmar military, April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

 

By Panu Wongcha-um

 

MAE SARIANG, Thailand (Reuters) -Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers in Myanmar are poised to cross into Thailand if, as expected, fighting intensifies between the Myanmar army and Karen insurgents, joining those who have already escaped the turmoil that followed a Feb. 1 coup.

The U.N. humanitarian office said on Friday that in all about 56,000 people have been displaced by conflict in Myanmar this year while another U.N. agency warned that the coronavirus and the political crisis could push nearly half the population into poverty.

 

Karen rebels and the Myanmar army have clashed near the Thai border in the most intense fighting in the area in 25 years, in the wake of a military coup that ousted an elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

 

Villagers on both sides of the border have been forced from their homes.

 

"People say the Burmese will come and shoot us, so we fled here," Chu Wah, a Karen villager who crossed over to Thailand with his family this week from the Ee Thu Hta displacement camp in Myanmar, told Reuters.

 

"I had to flee across the river," Chu Wah said, referring to the Salween river that forms the border in the area.

The Karen Peace Support Network says thousands of villagers are taking shelter on the Myanmar side of the Salween and they will flee to Thailand if the fighting escalates.

 

"In coming days, more than 8,000 Karen along the Salween river will have to flee to Thailand. We hope that the Thai army will help them escape the war," the group said in a Facebook post.

 

Karen fighters on Tuesday overran a Myanmar army unit on the west bank of the Salween in a pre-dawn attack. The Karen said 13 soldiers and three of their fighters were killed. The Myanmar military responded with air strikes in several areas near the Thai border.

 

Thailand's foreign ministry spokesman said 2,267 civilians had crossed into Thailand as of Friday since the latest conflict began. Many more have taken refuge in forest on the Myanmar side.

 

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said some 40,000 people had been displaced by the conflict in eastern Myanmar while another 11,000 have been displaced by fighting in the north and 5,800 in the northeast.

 

The inhabitants of two Thai villages close to the border have also fled from their homes, the Thai ministry spokesman, Tanee Sangrat, told a briefing, with 220 people still seeking refuge deeper in Thai territory for safety.

 

"The situation has escalated so we can't go back," said Warong Tisakul, 33, a Thai villager from Mae Sam Laep, a settlement, now abandoned, opposite the Myanmar army post attacked this week.

 

NORTHERN CLASHES

Heavy clashes have also been taking place in the north of Myanmar between government forces and ethnic Kachin insurgents.

 

Media reported heavy casualties among government troops in recent days but a spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army insurgent group said he could not confirm any figures.

 

"There will be casualties on both sides," the spokesman, Naw Bu, said by telephone.

 

The Karen, Kachin and several other insurgent groups have come out in support of the pro-democracy protesters who have been taking to the streets in towns and cities across the country to oppose the return of military rule.

 

The security forces have killed at least 759 protesters since the coup, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group says. Reuters is unable to confirm the casualty toll.

 

The military, which ruled for almost 50 years until launching a tentative reform process a decade ago, has acknowledged the death of some protesters, killed after they initiated violence, it says. Several members of the security forces have been killed in the protests, the military says.

 

The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) warned that the impact of the pandemic and the political crisis could see as many as 25 million Myanmar people slide into poverty by 2022.

 

"The development gains made during a decade of democratic transition, however imperfect it may have been, is being erased in a matter of months," U.N. Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Regional Director Kanni Wignaraja told Reuters.

 

(Reporting by Panu Wongcha-um; editing by Robert Birsel, Richard Pullin & Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-05-03

 

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[ThailandRyan]

A very sad state of affairs and harken back to decades ago and then when the Myanmar military killed many Rohingya's as well when they burned the villages forcing them into Bangladesh.  Now that the Kachin State are supporting the groups protesting against the coup they are now becoming victims of oppression and the only way to save themselves is to fight back.  Looks like we are heading into another Vietnam style conflict as the Burmese truly want all of the land and money for the Hi So military government and do not wish to have democracy.  My GF's family lives in Hlaingbwe which is in the north of the Kayin province and between Mae Hong Song and Tak.  They have had thousands flee into their village in the past month and many are starving, but have also brought Covid with them to the mountainous valley they reside in.  The internet has been shut by the Myanmar government, and the only way to talk with the family is for them to walk to where there is a broadcast tower that has been taken from the government, but you need to be in the small town where it is located to use it.  We hear from them daily and they wish to return to Thailand where most of them worked prior to covid.  When covid shut down the work they did here in Thailand many returned home.  They are worried that the Myanmar military will force them from their homes and take their property, and that  is why they are fighting back.  Just a major CF at this point and the UN is not helping because China, and Russia are backing the Military Junta. 

[skorp13]

Feel bad for those forced to flee. Thailand has advance notice of an oncoming rush, let's see how they handle this. Get those tests ready for those they can document

[Bradmeister]

Old News.... 

 

They're already here.  They will continue in droves from Burma.  

 

Take a drive from Ratchaburi to Ranong if one has any doubts. 

 

Laos and Cambodia will also bribe or illegally continue to cross the boarder daily.

[Tarteso]

Sad for these people. Same exodus happen today in Venezuela, where 6 million crossed the border to Colombia and Brasil... because of another one dictator.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Tarteso

[natway09]

Shades of yesteryears.

The Thai Government (hopefully with ASEAN support) will need refugee camps for 200,000 poor souls.

The Thai border controls are really in a catch 22 situation, they can't just shoot them, although I heard some warning shots about 2 hours ago,

We live on the border