Camp Plan Ditched

July 4th, 2009 Posted in Uncategorized

Fear of attacks forces re-think

Don Talenywun

July 2, 2009

Plans to establish a new refugee camp near the Thai-Burma border to cope with an influx into Thailand of more than 3,000 people fleeing fighting in Burma have been abandoned.

Security concerns in the wake of the killing of a Democratic Karen Buddhist Army commander put paid to the plans for the new camp.

Colonel San Pyone, the DKBA’s commander of Battalion Seven under Brigade 999, died on June 26, when seven DKBA boats were attacked on the Moei River.

Six soldiers were killed and 20 injured in the attack.

The camp was to be in the Tha Song Yang region, at a place known as Ti Nu Koh, and built around the skeleton of an abandoned school.

But the Eden Valley Academy school’s proximity to the border, about 5km, and the fact there were two easy land approaches for DKBA troops meant the plan was shelved.

Attacks on civilians are anticipated in retribution for the DKBA commander’s death.

Because of the precarious security at Ti Nu Koh agencies responsible for critical infrastructure, food and clothing had asked the Thai Army to post armed guards around the old school should it be used as a temporary camp.

Thai security forces said they were undermanned, could not ensure security and recommended another site be considered.

All parties agreed to move the dislocated people into the massive Mae La refugee camp.

Anyone who wants to return home may do so, but Thai authorities will ask them to sign a form saying they have rejected refuge in Thailand of their own accord and have not been forced to leave.

This is to counter recent allegations of soldiers forcing those fleeing back across the border and to prove Thailand is willing to offer safe haven in a time of need.

An extreme Burma Army military offensive in the KNLA’s Seventh Brigade region has necessitated a rapid response from both Thai authorities and international agencies to deal with thousands of people forced over the border.

Karen village leaders, displaced along with their population, estimate more than 4,000 people have lost or fled their homes in recent weeks.

Free Burma Ranger video shot during the offensive shows DKBA soldiers torching schools and villages as they made their way towards the border, marked mostly in this region by the Moei River.

The headquarters of the KNLA’s Seventh Brigade, home to its 202 Battalion, has been abandoned and is now occupied by DKBA and Burma Army soldiers.

But a senior KNLA figure said the fight was far from over, claiming the abandonment of 202 headquarters was nothing more than a “tactical withdrawal”.

This has been a recurring tactic of the KNLA in recent times – to withdraw when severely outnumbered so as to live and fight another day.