Displaced Shan asked to move out

Displaced Shan asked to move out

THAILAND: Thailand has asked an ethnic Shan rebel group from
Myanmar to move a settlement of civilians -- including more than
200 orphans -- from disputed border territory to deeper inside
Myanmar, a senior Thai army officer said on Sunday.

The Shan say the move would increase the exposure of the
civilians to military attacks by the Myanmar pro-government
forces, especially shelling that has become more frequent in
recent months.

The orphans are housed at Doi Tailaeng, next to the northern
Thai province of Mae Hong Son, a sprawling camp that also
includes armed guerrilla units of the Shan State Army, or SSA. It
is one of the few ethnic rebel groups that has continued an armed
struggle against the military government, with more than a dozen
others having signed cease-fires.

The Shan are Myanmar's largest ethnic minority, which like
others has been striving for autonomy from the central government
for decades.

On Saturday, six Shan civilian organizations loosely
affiliated with the SSA released an open letter to the Thai
government, calling on it to "reconsider the order to push back
over 400 Shan refugees, mostly women and children."

The Shan letter said that on May 18, Thai Third Army Deputy
Commander Maj. Gen. Manas Paorik ordered them relocated deeper
inside Myanmar by the end of this month.

Maj. Gen. Thanongsak Apirakyothin, who oversees security in
Thailand's northwestern border provinces, confirmed on Sunday
that the army had asked 400-500 Shan people, most of them women,
to move out from what is considered Thai territory.

"We have asked them to move back, but there is no use of force
to push them back," said Thanongsak, who declined to say whether
a deadline had been set. He described the people living in the
disputed territory as mostly family members of Shan guerrillas
who have been living on the disputed land for about four years.
-- AP