Myanmar Monks Face Food Shortage

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Monday October 25 10:38 AM ET

Myanmar Monks Face Food
Shortage

By CHIRAVUT RUNGCHAMRATRASAMEE

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Hundreds of Buddhist monks and
nuns have illegally sneaked into Thailand from Myanmar to
seek offerings because of food shortages.

Their plight stems from the Myanmar military regime's closure
of the frontier Oct. 2 in response to Thailand's handling of the
takeover of Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok by armed student
activists.

The monks and nuns, who normally eat only what they are
given by devotees, are not getting enough from their own
people after the suspension of cross-border trade sent food
prices soaring.

Somchai Issaman, secretary of the Wat Luang temple at this
border town, told The Associated Press on Monday that at
least 320 monks and 30 nuns have sought shelter at the temple,
seeking food.

The temple received a good supply of rice, dried food, and
other necessities from worshippers during the past three
months of Buddhist Lent, which ended Sunday, Somchai said.

The monks and nuns come from as many as 80 temples inside
Myanmar, also known as Burma, Somchai said. Their entry
into Thailand under the current circumstances would be illegal
on both sides of the border, but police on the Thai side have
looked the other way.

Myanmar has been incensed that Thailand allowed a group of
student activists, who held 38 people hostage in a two-day
siege, to fly to the border and disappear. Thailand has said that
letting them go was necessary to resolve the crisis without
bloodshed.

Some 3,000 students from Myanmar have sought refuge in
Thailand since street protests against military rule were crushed
by the army a decade ago.

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