Mae Sot (Mizzima) – The Thai army has established “protection” areas close to the Burmese border near Mae Sot, anticipating a flood of refugees as Burma’s ruling military junta prepares for elections this year.
As many as 10,000 Burmese are soon expected to be driven across the Thai border by troops of the State Peace and Development Council, the Burmese generals’ official name for their ruling junta.
As the ethnic minority armies reject the junta’s demands they declare themselves Border Guard Forces, thereby transforming into government-led militias, the fighting and the fleeing begins.
Already Mon State residents are clustering on the Burmese side of the border, having made it across Karen State. For the time being they are holed up in an internally-displaced-persons camp known as Halockhani.
The Thai army has been monitoring a major military build-up on the Burmese side and has interpreted it as a massing of troops for a major offensive. So convinced are the Thais of the coming offensive that two areas have been selected to shelter people displaced by the fighting, one to Mae Sot’s north, the other to the south.
The area in the south, Walay sub-district, in Phop Phra district, Tak province, is opposite a former Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) base, Wah Lay Kee, lost to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) last year. The other is at Kokko, the district slated for a new bridge across the Moei River between Burma and Thailand.
Walay backs onto the KNLA’s Sixth Brigade region, while Kokko is opposite the KNLA’s Seventh Brigade.
This time, the Thai army has made it clear there will be no permanent structures established to shelter people and those fleeing fighting will be expected to return home. Lessons have been learned from last year’s DKBA offensive to Mae Sot’s north, when thousands of people landed on the Thai side in nebulous clusters spread across hundreds of miles. As many as 6,000 people landed in Thailand in a short period and several significant KNLA base camps were lost to the DKBA.
At that time – in June, July and August – Thai authorities initially agreed with NGOs operating out of Mae Sot that an entirely new camp might have to be built because of the huge numbers of people fleeing fighting. But while a few potential sites were surveyed a new camp was never allowed because of security threats posed by either DKBA or SPDC troops.
The new rules put in place by the Thais will certainly eliminate any attraction to the temporary camps. No water tanks or new toilets will be allowed.
People fleeing fighting more than 60 miles (100 kilometres) from the border will not be allowed to cross into Thailand. Access to the two refugee zones will be extremely limited, with Thai soldiers having the final say about who may cross the border for temporary security.
Anyone thought to have links to the KNU or the DKBA is banned from crossing, and no new arrivals will be permitted access to the existing refugee camps in Thailand.
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