Up to 5000 refugees flee into Thailand

By FRANCIS WADE

Refugees are pouring across Burma’s border into Thailand after heavy fighting erupted this morning in Myawaddy.

Estimates of the number of people fleeing vary – the UN has put the figure at 1000, while eye-witnesses say it is closer to 5,000. The International Organisation for Migration said that “between 4000 and 5000” had fled, with more arriving.

Around 400 people have sought refuge in a monastery in Mae Sot close to the Thailand-Burma Friendship Bridge. A source on the border said that more people were crossing at unofficial border checkpoints close to Myawaddy.

It comes a day after Burma held its first elections in 20 years. Aid groups had predicted that the Burmese junta would step up attacks on rebel groups along the border, but it’s unlikely anyone had foreseen how quickly violence would erupt.

Fighting began early this morning after troops from a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) yesterday took key administrative and military positions.

Since fighting peaked several hours ago it appears to have quietened, but residents of Myawaddy have reportedly been given an hour’s warning to evacuate the town before clashes resume.

The fighting has however spread south of Myawaddy to Payathonzu, across the border from Thailand’s Three Pagodas Pass. Major Mo Shae from the DKBA said that his troops there had captured nine soldiers from the junta’s Border Guard Force.

Nai Hongsa, general secretary of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), said that people were seen fleeing Payathonzu.

Additional reporting by Naw Noreen

http://www.dvb.no/news/up-to-5000-refugees-flee-into-thailand/12704

Burmese migrants indifferent to looming vote

From: Dan Withers at DVB

As Burma prepares to hold its first elections in two decades, the world’s media has trained its fickle gaze on this military-ruled Southeast Asian nation. But, in neighbouring Thailand, most Burmese migrant workers have little interest in polls they believe will do nothing to improve life in their home country.
The Bangkok Post last week claimed more than 2,000 Burmese migrant workers were queuing at the national verification office in Tachilek opposite Mae Sai in Chiang Rai, Thailand, hoping to obtain a temporary passport. “These migrant workers are eager to get their passports so they can travel more freely back to cast a ballot and then return to work in Thailand,” an unnamed source told the Post.
But with estimates of the number of Burmese working in Thailand ranging up to three million, these people are just a tiny fraction of the migrant worker community. Most migrants are in Thailand illegally – and have no intention of risking the journey home to vote in an election widely dismissed as a sham aimed at keeping the military in power.
“I don’t believe in this election,” said Aung Aung, a 22-year-old hospitality worker in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot. “Than Shwe wants to win. I think he will cheat. They’ve been cheating for 20 years up to today.”
Moe Swe, of Yaung Chi Oo Workers Association, said most Burmese in Mae Sot weren’t interested in the polls. “They know the election is not for them,” he said. “They won’t get any benefit… The Burmese people know the election is just about selecting Burmese generals.”
The vast majority of Burmese migrants come to Thailand for economic reasons, working in factories, construction and the fishing industry in the south. Moe Swe said he had talked to Burmese in Phuket and Phang Nga, many of whom had been in Thailand for several years and knew very little about the polls.
“They haven’t been given any information about the parties,” he said. And what they do know, they don’t like: “The NLD is not in the election; Aung San Suu Kyi is not in the election, so migrant workers are not interested. They will not return to Burma to vote,” he said.
In fact, according to advocacy body Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, many migrant workers are unaware the elections are even taking place. The TACDB recently surveyed 200 people studying at a migrant worker school in Thailand. Of those that responded, just 15.7 percent knew that Burma was holding general elections on 7 November.
Myint Wai, deputy director of TACDB, said there were probably more than two million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. Of these, less than 200,000 have obtained passports through the Thai-Burmese “nationality verification scheme”. Those with passports are supposed to be able to vote in advance of the polls at the Burmese embassy, but the government has done nothing to inform these people of how to do this, he said.
Jackie Pollock, of the Migrant Assistance Program based in Chiang Mai, said the mainly Shan migrants her organisation works with are also uninterested in the elections. With the polls cancelled in many parts of Shan State, workers felt like the election lacked credibility. “They feel there’s a lot of exclusion anyway. Other ethnic people aren’t allowed to vote, so they feel like it’s not an election that’s inclusive.”
The criticism came as New York-based rights watchdog Human Rights Watch released a damning assessment of the election process, four days before the polls.
“Burma’s November 7 elections are being conducted in a climate of fear, intimidation, and resignation,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These elections are about elite military transformation, not democratic transition, and offer little change to Burma’s deplorable human rights situation.”
There were “growing reports of voting irregularities and inducements to vote for the military-backed parties,” HRW added. Foreign media are forbidden from entering the country to cover the elections, and election watchdogs have been barred from observing them.
Author: DAN WITHERS

http://www.dvb.no/elections/migrants-indifferent-to-looming-vote/12544

No Forced Repatriation: Thai FM

Mae La Camp in Mae Sot

Thailand will repatriate Burmese refugees staying on the Thai-Burmese border only when peace prevails in Burma, said Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
He made the statement on Friday when he visited Mae La refugee camp in Tak Province where some 40,000 Burmese refugees are staying.
Speaking to a camp committee, Kasit said the Thai authorities would not send the refugees back by force, but will only send them back if political situation in Burma gets better after the general elections on Nov. 7.

“We will be repatriated voluntarily when the situation in Burma is secure for us,” a committee member said, adding that they would not be sent back if there was still armed conflict in their home areas.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=19809

Burma's health care reaches crisis point

"We want the international community to consider this as a crime against humanity," said Dr Maung, who won the Magsaysay Award for her humanitarian work.
Almost one third of those surveyed experienced human rights abuses in the preceding year, particularly forced labour and displacement. The report also states that the abuses are directly linked with the health crisis, as children in displaced families were three times more likely to suffer.
The problem of children and women who die from preventable and curable diseases can be solved through comprehensive public health services, Dr Maung said.
"But unless the human rights violations are stopped in Burma, the health problems cannot be solved."

Burma's election will not halt humanitarian crisis

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201009/s3017479.htm

"Dr Muang oversees a 300 bed clinic in the Thai border town of Mae Sot and more than 100,000 patients a year, 50 per cent of whom come from Burma."

Karen Doctor Sees Little End to Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern BurmaKaren Doctor Sees Little End to Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern Burma

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Karen-Doctor-Sees-Little-End-to-Humanitarian-Crisis-in-Eastern-Burma-103235659.html
"The local Mae Sot community also looks after a growing population of abandoned children. The clinic and a network of 62 community schools already educate 12,000 children from migrant workers and refugees in the provincial Mae Sot area. Dr. Muang says as people lose livelihoods children are being left behind."