Thai Army Starving Shan Refugees

[shan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

THAI  ARMY  STARVING  SHAN  REFUGEES

10 march 1998

Report have reached S.H.A.N. that aid agencies trying to send food and
medicines for Shan refugees in Pang Yone, Pangmapha District in Maehongson
Province are being denied access to their makeshift camp.

The villages north of Homong, once Khun Sa's stronghold and now under Burma
Army's control since 1996, were ordered to recolate by the Burmese
authorities after a brief battle broke out between a Burmese and Shan
troops on 12 Feb three kilometers north of Homong. The villagers, suddenly
finding themselves robbed of their worldly possessions and the means to
live and even their lives in danger, many villagers, nearly 500 of them,
fled into Thailand.

Burmese units then took positions in Thai territory ostensibly to block
Lernherng, the commander of Shan States Army unit there, from entering
Thailand. The Thai units also took positions nearby ostensibly to push the
intruders back.

" But what ensued was the unthinkable thing ", a trustrated aid worker
said. " They were demanding that the villagers return. And since there is
no attacks from either side, they cannot be considered refugees anymore.
They are simply ignoring the fact that Burma is not a peaceful country;
that it has been in a state of war since 1948. "

The Shan refugees would have nothing to eat as of today( Wednesday) he
added. " the Thai army should put themselves in the place of these
villagers. They have been forced out of their homes at gun point. It is
everyone's duty to look after them and help them. Instead, they are being
forced at gun point again to go back to their tormentors. "

Meanwhile, reports are coming from across Chiangmai that Shans forced to
return were detained by the Burmese authorities in Mongton in order to work
- without pay - at the Kok River Dam. " Laborers hired by the Thai company
are paid, but those hired (sic) by the Burmese Army are not. They are badly
treated and poorly fed. The women suffer worse " , said the aid worker.

S.H.A.N.
shan Herald Agency for News