About 3,000 Myanmar refugees sheltering in Thailand return home

By Admin 10 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
10 April 2023, Myawaddy, Kayin State

Out of more than 10,000 people displaced by fighting between the junta-allied Border Guard Force and a coalition led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) near Shwe Kokku, part of Kayin (Karen) State’s Myawaddy Township, and had fled to Thailand reportedly returned home on Monday, according to aid workers.

“Around 3,000 Myanmar refugees from three refugee camps near the No. 2 Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge returned home. The fighting has ceased in the area,” said Ko Phoe Thingyan, an aid worker.

Refugee returnees from five villages near Shwe Kokku returned home voluntarily, said a resident of Chaungzon Village.

The remaining Myanmar refugees are currently taking refuge at rubber plantations and breeding farms in four villages near the Myanmar-Thai border, and they are in need of food supplies and drinking water.

“Fighting occurs near Shwe Kokku on a daily basis. We are in a difficult situation to monitor the situation in Myanmar, and we don’t know the situation in detail,” said another Myanmar refugee.

Fighting between the junta-backed Border Guard Force and the coalition led by the KNLA, the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), forced thousands of residents to cross the Thaungyin River and flee into neighbouring Thailand since April 5.

Ten resistance groups fighting the Myanmar military on Friday imposed a travel ban along the Asia Highway between Kawkareik and Myawaddy townships in Kayin State amid heavy fighting in the area. The travel ban is in effect until April 21.

“As of 27 March, almost 1.8 million people remain displaced across the country. This includes more than 1.4 [million] people who have been internally displaced by conflict and insecurity since February 2021,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Myanmar said in a bulletin on April 6.