Thousands, including women and children, flee across the border into Thailand
People fleeing fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic rebel groups shelter on the Thai side of the Moei River, in Mae Sot district in Tak province on April 7. Thousands of people have fled to Thailand following fierce fighting between Myanmar rebels and the military, Thai officials said on April 6. (Photo by AFP)
By Luke Hunt
Heavy fighting erupted between the military and forces aligned with the armed wing of the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) around Shwe Kokko in southwest Myanmar over Easter forcing more than 10,000 civilians to flee across the border into Thailand.
Sources said the military-backed Border Guard Force (BGF) had clashed with militias from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the NUG’s People Defense Force (PDF) which are opposed to the military takeover of the country two years ago.
They said initial strikes were launched by the PDF and KNLA on BGF posts near the casino in Shwe Kokko on April 5, escalating on Good Friday, and by Easter Sunday evening, Thai authorities said more than 10,000 civilians had fled.
Artillery, heavy shelling, and rocket-propelled grenades were put to use with women and children using half-a-dozen border crossings, but authorities said most had fled to Mae Sot, in Thailand’s Tak province, some 492 kilometers northwest of Bangkok.
“Many were Burmese and others are from the different ethnic groups, but there were a lot of Chinese among them which is not surprising, given the Chinese run the casino,” one source, who did not want to be named, said. “From Tak, the Chinese were catching taxis to Bangkok.”
Lion Battalion Commando Special Force, a resistance group fighting alongside the KNLA and the PDF, said in a statement that about 85 troops from the military and BGF were killed and another 60 injured in the fighting.
The area around Shwe Kokko in Karenni state has been subjected to heavy fighting in recent months, including the massacre of 29 civilians in March, among them three monks, leading to accusations that the killings were designed by the military to start a religious conflict.
“Local people here say a lot of people who fled have been caught by the army and police and possibly sent back or sent to a camp. I'm about 120 kilometers from Mae Sot and there are checkpoints on the roads in Tak, so it's hard to get through that,” said another observer, who did not want to be named.
“No one's sure what happens to those caught at the checkpoints. I suspect an immigration lockup first, then either taken to the border or a refugee camp,” he said.
The NUG has claimed resistance fighters who sought safety across the border had been detained and sent back by Thai authorities. They were then arrested by the junta and interrogated.
Civil society groups, including Unbound Now, also say Shwe Kokko has emerged as an epicenter for human traffickers who are taking advantage of the conflict — and the lack of police enforcement — enabling them to operate ‘slave compounds’ with impunity.
Shwe Kokko, labeled a crime hub by civil society groups, is controlled by the BGF.
The fighting also erupted as the military regime reportedly sentenced jailed anti-junta protest leader Ko Wai Moe Naing to a further 20 years in prison. And on Easter Friday, Hkalam Samson, a Baptist minister, was sentenced to six years in prison.
“The junta’s politically motivated case against Rev. Hkalam Samson, who is internationally renowned for his humanitarian and community work, shows that no one is safe in Myanmar,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said recently.
“The junta should drop the baseless charges against Rev. Samson and immediately and unconditionally release him.”
The UN special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, told The Guardian newspaper on March 15 that Myanmar is now a “failing state.” At the same time, Noeleen Heyzer, UN envoy for Myanmar, told the General Assembly that “there is no prospect for a negotiated settlement” to the crisis.
More than 3,200 people have been killed since the February 2021 coup d’état ousted an elected government, while more than 1.4 million people have been internally displaced and another 17,000 people remain in detention.
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