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Karens flee to camps in Thailand (T



Subject: Karens flee to camps in Thailand (The Asian Age, 17/2/97.)

Karens flee to camps in Thailand
The Asian Age (New Delhi)
17/2/97
 
 
BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON
 
Umphang (Thailand), Feb. 16: Fleeing a homeland turned into a warzone by 
a massive Burmese government forces offensive, thousands of Karen 
villagers are trekking through the jungle to camps across the border in 
Thailand.
 
Carrying a few belongings on pushcarts and in rice sacks, convoys of 
families are moving through the forests led by their village headman 
towards emergency camps over the frontier.
 
Reports said that virtually all the Karen National Union's bases in the 
area have been abandoned amid a three-pronged offensive by the ruling 
junta, the State Law and Order Restoration Council.
 
Between 10,000 to 15,000 people were on the move, joining 80,000 others 
who have fled Burmese military rule in recent years and are already 
sheltering in camps across the Thai border, according to Mahn Sha, joint 
general secretary one of the KNU.
 
Doctor Em Marta, KNU head of health and welfare said government military 
divisions numbering as many as 10,000 men were moving faster than 
expected through the KNU's enclave in eastern Burma. Military sources 
said seven government divisions had been deployed.
 
Villagers were ditching their possessions and scattering into the jungle, 
before finding their way along dirt roads and pathways towards Thailand, 
he said.
 
"People are scared.  They know that food and shelter is waiting here, so 
instead of risking their lives in Burma, they come to Thailand hoping 
that one day the SLORC will withdraw," he said.
 
With a long history of resisting central rule from Rangoon, the KNU, the 
only major rebel insurgency not yet to reach terms with 'the SLORC, is 
facing its darkest hour since Burmese independence in 1948.
 
A Thai military spokesman contacted by telephone said the region had been 
quiet for the past 24 hours, with no new SLORC attacks.  One refugee, 
Mong Pheyee, 45, left his home in the Karen market town of Sakkhanthit on 
Tuesday, a day before the SLORC troops bombarded it and KNU fighters beat 
a retreat.  For the third time in seven years, this former KNU soldier 
led his family to a new home because of military pressure from SLORC -- 
this time after a two-day trek. (AFP)