MAE SARIANG, Thailand: Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers in Myanmar are poised to cross into Thailand if, as expected, fighting intensifies between the Myanmar army and Karen insurgents, joining those who have already escaped the turmoil that followed a Feb. 1 coup.
Karen rebels and the Myanmar army have clashed near the Thai border in the weeks since Myanmar’s generals ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, displacing villagers on both sides of the border.
“People say the Burmese will come and shoot us, so we fled here,” Chu Wah, a Karen villager who crossed over to Thailand with his family this week from the Ee Thu Hta displacement camp in Myanmar, told Reuters.
“I had to flee across the river,” Chu Wah said, referring to the Salween river that forms the border in the area.
The Karen Peace Support Network says thousands of villagers are taking shelter on the Myanmar side of the Salween and they will flee to Thailand if the fighting escalates.
“In coming days, more than 8,000 Karen along the Salween river will have to flee to Thailand. We hope that the Thai army will help them escape the war,” the group said in a post on Facebook.
Karen fighters on Tuesday overran an Myanmar army unit on the west bank of the Salween in a pre-dawn attack. The Karen said 13 soldiers and three of their fighters were killed. The Myanmar military responded with air strikes in several areas near the Thai border.
Thai authorities say nearly 200 villagers have crossed into Thailand this week. Thailand has reinforced its forces and restricted access to the border.
Hundreds of Thai villagers have also been displaced, moving from their homes close to the border, to deeper into Thai territory for safety.
“The situation has escalated so we can’t go back,” said Warong Tisakul, 33, a Thai villager from Mae Sam Laep, a settlement, now abandoned, opposite the Myanmar army post attacked this week.
“Security officials won’t let us, we can’t go back.”
Thousands of Myanmar villagers poised to flee violence to Thailand, group says
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Thousands of Myanmar villagers poised to flee violence to Thailand, group says
- Karen fighters on Tuesday overran an Myanmar army unit on the west bank of the Salween, prompting a ferocious response by the military
- The Karen Peace Support Network says thousands of villagers are taking shelter on the Myanmar side of the Salween
Rwanda-back M23 rebels say they will withdraw from seized city in eastern Congo
- The statement also called for the demilitarization of Uvira
- Uvira residents said Tuesday that the rebels are still in the town
DAKAR: Rwanda-backed M23 rebels said Tuesday they will withdraw from Uvira, the strategic city in eastern Congo seized last week, as fighting in the region escalated despite a US mediated peace deal.
Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance, which includes M23, said the withdrawal was requested by the US and is a “unilateral trust-building measure” to facilitate the peace process.
The statement also called for the demilitarization of Uvira, the protection of its population and infrastructure, and the monitoring of the ceasefire through the deployment of a neutral force. It did not say whether M23’s withdrawal is contingent on implementing these measures.
Uvira residents said Tuesday that the rebels are still in the town.
M23 took control of the city last week following a rapid offensive launched at the start of the month. Along with the more than 400 people killed, about 200,000 have been displaced, regional officials say.
The rebels’ latest offensive comes despite a US-mediated peace agreement signed earlier this month by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.
The US last week accused Rwanda of violating the agreement by backing a deadly new rebel offensive in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, and warned that the Trump administration will take action against “spoilers” of the deal.
The accord didn’t include the rebel group, which is negotiating separately with Congo and agreed earlier this year to a ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. However, it obliges Rwanda to halt support for armed groups like M23 and work to end hostilities.
The rebels’ advance pushed the conflict to the doorstep of neighboring Burundi, which has maintained troops in eastern Congo for years, heightening fears of a broader regional spillover.
At least 30,000 Congolese have crossed the nearby border into Burundi since Dec.8, according to the Burundian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There have also been reports of shells falling in the town of Rugombo, on the Burundian side of the border.
Congo, the US and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the UN
More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the UN agency for refugees.
