10,000 refugees flee Myanmar post-vote fighting
Fighting raged Monday at key border points, wounding at least 10 people on both sides of the frontier as stray shots fell into Thailand.
The clashes underlined Myanmar's vulnerability to unrest even as it passes through a key stage of the ruling junta's self-proclaimed "road map to democracy." The country has been under virtually continuous military rule since 1962, and has faced rebellions by its ethnic minorities since even before obtaining independence from Britain in 1948.
In the heaviest clashes, Karen rebels reportedly seized a police station and post office Sunday in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. Sporadic gun and mortar fire continued into Monday afternoon. More fighting broke out further south for one hour Monday at the Three Pagodas Pass, said local Thai official Chamras Jungnoi, but there was no word on any casualties.
However, Thai officials said late Monday that fighting had died down, and government troops had regained control of Myawaddy. Tens of thousands of ethnic Karen villagers who have fled decades of fighting in the border regions already shelter in refugees camps on the Thai side of the frontier, but the newcomers were expected to return home soon.
It was the biggest one-day tide of refugees to flee into Thailand in recent years. Refugees continued to arrive into the evening, and some independent estimates put their number closer to 20,000.
Groups representing ethnic minorities who make up some 40 percent of the population had warned in recent days that civil war could erupt if the military tries to impose its highly centralized constitution and deprive them of rights.
The fighting threatened to overshadow electoral developments, which include mounting chagrin on the part of anti-government parties over what they charge was blatant cheating on behalf of the military's chosen candidates.
Speaking in New Delhi on Monday during his tour of Asia, US President Barack Obama said it was unacceptable for Myanmar's government to "steal an election" and hold its people's aspirations hostage to the regime's greed and paranoia.
Obama says leaders in countries like the US and India have a responsibility to condemn such gross violations of human rights. He was speaking before India's parliament.
"There have been at least 10,000 refugees who have fled to Thailand," said Col. Wannatip Wongwai, commander of Thailand's Third Army Region responsible for security in the area. He said Myanmar government troops appeared to have retaken control of Myawaddy, and the Karen rebels held just a few positions on the town's outskirts.
"As soon as the situation is under control, we will start sending the refugees back to Myawaddy," he told The Associated Press.
Samard Loyfar, governor of Thailand's Tak province, opposite Myawaddy, said the UN was helping to care for 10,000 refugees being sheltered at a makeshift camp.
Refugees marched in an orderly fashion, shepherded by Thai security personnel, through the streets of the Thai town of Mae Sot, which is just across a river from Myawaddy. Those few carrying belongings toted them on top of their heads, while several lucky ones got rides on pickup trucks; Kazinform cites The Arab News.
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