Shans fleeing Myanmarese army harassment<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (Reuter): Hundreds of people are fleeing northeastern
\nMyanmar's Shan state claiming harassment by Myanmarese government
\ntroops who moved into the area after drug lord Khun Sa
\nsurrendered this month, Thai police said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Many of the people, most of them from Myanmar's Shan ethnic
\nminority, have slipped across the border into Thailand over the
\npast three weeks, Thai border police said.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Myanmarese government troops have moved into the
\narea since the beginning of the month, taking over bases and
\nvillages previously under the control of Khun Sa's guerrilla
\nforce.<\/p>\n
The Myanmarese troops have been requisitioning villagers'
\nhomes and animals and other supplies of food, a Shan guerrilla
\nofficer said.<\/p>\n
\"There are no military barracks in Pieng Luang so the Burmese
\n(Myanmarese) soldiers have taken over people's homes,\" the Shan
\nofficer said, referring to a former Khun Sa village on the border
\nwith Thailand.<\/p>\n
\"They come in and loot the people and kill their animals to
\neat,\" he said. \"We heard that one woman was raped and killed in
\nMae Aw last week,\" he said, referring to another border village.<\/p>\n
A Thai border policeman said an estimated 1,000 villagers had
\nslipped across the border into Thailand from Pieng Luang and
\nhundreds more, including subsistence-level minority hill people,
\nwere hiding out just inside Myanmar, waiting for an opportunity
\nto cross into Thailand.<\/p>\n
The Myanmarese army has a long record of harsh treatment of
\ncivilians, especially ethnic minorities in remote frontier areas.<\/p>\n
United Nations human rights officials and rights groups such
\nas Amnesty International have documented numerous cases of rights
\nabuses by Myanmarese troops including summary executions and
\nrape.<\/p>\n
Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army (MTA) officially surrendered on
\nJan. 7 and Myanmarese troops have been consolidating their
\npositions in former MTA base areas since then.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, twenty people were killed in clashes between rival
\nfactions of Karens in southeastern Myanmar at the weekend, Thai
\nborder police said yesterday.<\/p>\n
About 150 Karen National Union (KNU) troops launched a
\nsurprise attack on a camp belonging to the Democratic Karen
\nBuddhist Army (DKBA) on Saturday, police said.<\/p>\n
Thai border police, monitoring field radio communications from
\nthe area, said 15 DKBA members were killed and more than two
\ndozen were wounded in the attack.<\/p>\n
Five KNU guerrillas were killed, police said.<\/p>\n
The DKBA was formed by Karen rebels who broke away from the
\nanti-Yangon KNU in December 1994 and joined forces with
\nMyanmarese government troops.<\/p>\n
The faction has launched regular cross-border raids on Karen
\nrefugee camps in Thailand in an attempt to force the inmates,
\nmost of them KNU supporters, back to government-controlled areas
\nin Myanmar.<\/p>\n
A KNU source said the weekend attack was in response to a
\nrecent raid by the DKBA on a refugee camp in Thailand when they
\nexecuted a retired KNU commander.<\/p>\n
The KNU has been fighting for autonomy since 1949 and is the
\nonly ethnic minority guerrilla force in Myanmar which has yet to
\nagree a cease-fire with the Rangoon government.<\/p>\n
Last month a KNU delegation traveled to Yangon for peace
\nnegotiations for the first time since 1963.<\/p>\n
The KNU source said he hoped the weekend attack would not
\njeopardize the peace talks.<\/p>\n
\"The attack was revenge against the DKBA who crossed the
\nborder to kill our brothers in the camps. We have no intention of
\nharming Burmese troops,\" the guerrilla officer told Reuters.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/shans-fleeing-myanmarese-army-harassment-1447893297",
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