Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers have been forced to flee across the border into Thailand over the past few weeks as the Myanmar army steps up its assault on the Karen rebels.
Myanmar’s army and a pro-government militia called the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked the border region near Thailand in a final push to destroy the Karen National Union (KNU), which has been fighting for independence for the last 60 years.
Fierce combat and mortar fire has forced more than 4,000 ethnic Karen villagers to flee across the border for their safety since the beginning of this month. More are arriving every day.
So far, the refugees have fled from seven villages across the Moei River in Myanmar, but there are more than 40 villages in the conflict zone.
“If the fighting continues, at least 8,000 more villagers will have to escape across the border or die at the hands of the soldiers,” KNU general-secretary Zipporah Sein said.
Some of the recent refugees are crowded into the grounds of a temple, a couple of kilometers inside Thailand, where they are healthy but lack access to basic necessities, aid workers said.
“They are in relatively good condition,” Kitty McKinsey, regional spokeswoman for the UN High Commission for Refugees, said from Noh Bo temple near the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
“They are not emaciated, though many have walked for more than seven days to escape from the Myanmar army,” she said. “They hurriedly left with nothing but the clothes on their back.”
“We desperately need soap, toothbrushes and cooking utensils,” said Ma Theingyi, a 33-year-old mother of five. “More than anything though, we need clothes for our children.”
Most of the refugees are women and children. Some of the men stayed behind to look after the fields, aid workers said. Others were already in Thailand, as illegal immigrants working in foreign-owned textile factories near the border. And some are soldiers in the KNU’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army.
The mass exodus of Karen villagers began more than a month ago after the DKBA told the local village headman that they intended to recruit more soldiers and porters.
“We knew what that meant, all the able-bodied men would be used by the army in one way or another, and on top of that we would have to give them money and food rations,” said Pa Naw Naw, 41.
He fled with his wife and three children, but left his 11-year-old son behind to keep an eye on their fields and livestock.
The KNU is one of many ethnic groups that have fought the ruling military junta for autonomy. Most of the other rebel groups now have ceasefire agreements with the government. Over the past 20 years, military action, internal strife and defections have whittled away at the KNU’s strength.
The Karen insurgency may now be facing its final battle.
“We will fight to the bitter end,” said David Thakerbaw, a spokesman for the KNU.
He has been fighting against the Myanmar army for most of his life, joining as a 14-year-old recruit, some 60 years ago.
“We have no option but to fight on and hold on to every strip of land,” he said. “We know they will continue to commit human rights abuses, seize our land and control our natural resources.”
The latest army offensive began about two weeks ago with shelling in the border area and terrorizing villagers with the help of the breakaway Karen faction, the DKBA.
“There is no doubt that the junta with the help of the DKBA, are going all out to wrest control of the area along the border from the KNU,” said Win Min, a Myanmar academic and military specialist.
The military campaign appears linked to the regime’s planned elections next year and the proposed creation of a national border police force, to be made up of the disarmed ethnic rebel armies that have ceasefire agreements with the regime.
Most ethnic groups have rejected the junta’s plans to disarm them before the polls, but the DKBA has agreed to become border police. The army has closed some 30 of its 100 military camps in the border area in recent months, in anticipation of the DKBA taking control of the area, the medical aid organization Free Burma Rangers said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese