Heavily-armed Thai Troops At Burma Border After Influx Of Ethnic Karen

[george]

Thai army reinforces Burma border

Thailand has sent heavily-armed troops to reinforce positions along the Burma border after an influx of ethnic Karen refugees fleeing an army offensive.

More than 4,000 people have fled Burma for Thailand in the largest influx of refugees in the area for a decade.

Karen rebels have been fighting for an independent state for 60 years, in the world's longest-running civil war.

Over the last three years the Burmese military has driven the rebels back to a few small bases along the border.

The long war along Burma's forested eastern border has caused immense human suffering, with an estimated 500,000 ethnic Karen forced from their homes.

Most of those who fled into Thailand over the past week had already been displaced, and were living at a camp inside Burma when it was repeatedly shelled by Burmese army mortars.

Squalid camps

Fighters from the Karen National Union (KNU) say they are holding their ground - but they are heavily outnumbered by the joint forces of the Burmese army and a Karen splinter group which is allied to the government.

The KNU has steadily retreated over the decades, from its position of greatest strength right after Burma's independence in 1948 when it came close to capturing Rangoon, to its situation today, with just a few bases along the border.

Its strength has been sapped recently by a string of defections, and by the assassination of its most charismatic leader in Thailand last year.

The Thai government has tried to start a dialogue between the two sides this year, so far with little success.

The 4,000 new arrivals will join around 100,000 other Karen who have sought shelter in Thailand.

Most are confined to squalid camps, which the Thai authorities do not allow them to leave. Some have lived in these camps for more than a decade.

-- BBC 2009-06-10

[brahmburgers]

I've had Burmese Karen friends for awhile now. I know their grandparents, kids, friends. They're much the same as any other people I've known, except a bit sweeter personalities.

The article shows yet another facet of Burmese junta at war with the people within Burma's borders. I would say 'at war with their own people' ....but all except a small % of elite Burmans are 'their own people.' I don't know who is worse, the Kim Il Yung crazies in N.Korea, or the mean spirited thugs - running Burma in to the ground.

It's a land grab, plain and simple. The Burmese brass see resources they want to covet. They've got the bigger guns, so - simple - just forcefully take over. No finessing, no discussions, ....just crank up the tanks and start forcing the indigenous people out of the areas the army wants control over.

[riley76]

I've had Burmese Karen friends for awhile now. I know their grandparents, kids, friends. They're much the same as any other people I've known, except a bit sweeter personalities.

The article shows yet another facet of Burmese junta at war with the people within Burma's borders. I would say 'at war with their own people' ....but all except a small % of elite Burmans are 'their own people.' I don't know who is worse, the Kim Il Yung crazies in N.Korea, or the mean spirited thugs - running Burma in to the ground.

It's a land grab, plain and simple. The Burmese brass see resources they want to covet. They've got the bigger guns, so - simple - just forcefully take over. No finessing, no discussions, ....just crank up the tanks and start forcing the indigenous people out of the areas the army wants control over.

=brahmburgers post=27966254 HOW can we help/ who is the aid agency for the camps

un ? posters any constructive comments news please riley 76

[Bagwan]

Thai army reinforces Burma border

Thailand has sent heavily-armed troops to reinforce positions along the Burma border after an influx of ethnic Karen refugees fleeing an army offensive. [unquote]

The compassionate face of Buddhism at work.

These poor people are now stuck between a rock and a hard place. Thailand will apparently stand by and watch this genocide.

The UK has a lot to answer for historically. The Karens were staunch allies of the 14th Army fighting the Japs in WW2 and when the unpleasantness was over, the Brits went home and left the Karen to their fate. What makes this worse in my eyes is that the UK had a Socialist government at the time. The UK has only recently agreed to treat the Ghurkas decently so what hope for the Karen? IMO totally shameful - and I'm a Brit.

[Mosha]

What makes it worse is that the Brits promised the Karen there own independant country/state as a reward for their help.

[Steps]

It's a complete shame the way the Karen and other indegineous people in Burma have been treated. I have read a book called Restless Souls by journalist Phil Thornton which i would recomend for anyone interested in the situation concerning the Karen and is all i can say is it is a complete tragedy what has and is happening. I sometimes wish the Americans and other powers would go in and sort it out but it is far more complex than just rolling in and overthrowing the Junta. The problem here is that the Burmese Junta are allied with the Chinese and the Chinese have vested interests in Burma (natural resources). Maybe if the American's did roll in, overthrow the Junta and ensure a fairly ellected governmet was put in place then China could end up paying higher prices for the resources that are being raped from the land. Nobody want's to upset China!!

But what about the international corporations from America, Canada, UK, Germany, France ect that indirectly fund their "campaign of terror" (i hate that but it is so true in this case) on their own people's? They have a lot to answer for!

Unfortunately money talks. Therefore, morals are thrown out the window. It's the sad story of the world and humanity. "I, I, ME, ME, MINE", Kill or be killed. If you can't beat them join them and all that................

What hope do they have? I would say not much but then, they have been fighting for 60 years in, as mentioned, the worlds longes civil war and it would be a crime for me to underestimate the strength and will of the human spirit.

God Bless their souls.

[seri thai]

What makes it worse is that the Brits promised the Karen there own independant country/state as a reward for their help.

But the Newly Independent Rangoon Government (led by Aung San Suu Kyi's father) crushed the Karens revolt (partly led by sympathetic ex-British servicemen and possibly funded by British government interest).

It is this legacy of fragmentation of ethnic interests that the Junta clings to for its legitimacy. They claim (as many democracies have) to be securing the nation. Of course its a pitiful excuse but Burmas history has been messy and bloody for centuries and not without a lot of intrigue and interference from John Bull.