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| Southeast Asia |
| Thousands flee Myanmar clashes |
| 2010-11-09 |
| [Al Jazeera] Fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic rebels has sent at least 10,000 people fleeing into Thailand a day after the military-led nation held a much-criticised election. Clashes were reported on Monday at key points on the border with Thailand, leaving at least three people dead and 10 others maimed on both sides of the frontier. In the heaviest festivities, Karen rebels reportedly seized a cop shoppe and post office on Sunday in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. Sporadic gun and mortar fire continued into Monday afternoon. Al Jizz's Marga Ortigas, reporting from the Thai border town of Mae Sot, said that a stray rocket propelled grenade crossed into Thailand, injuring five people. Refugees' fears "The festivities appear to be between a faction linked to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and government-backed troops," Ortigas said. "This faction has said it did not support the ceasefire the DKBA signed with the Myanmar government, and have reiterated that they want their own autonomy." Our correspondent also said refugees from Myanmar who crossed the border into Thailand feared government troops would shoot them for failing to vote on Sunday. Zipporah Sein, the general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), said fighting broke out between up to 300 DKBA soldiers and government forces. "We don't know definitely but I think last night the army sent over more troops, they negotiated and the DKBA retreated but this morning they were blocked by army trucks and then it started," she said. Myanmar, also known as Burma, held its first election in 20 years on Sunday, backed by parties that looked set to win a vote marred by fraud and denounced by Barack B.O.Obama, the US president, as stolen. "It is unacceptable to steal elections, as the regime in Burma has done again for all the world to see," Obama, currently on a tour of four Asian nations, said in a speech to India's parliament in New Delhi. And who would know more about stealing elections than a Chicago pol? Europe and Japan also condemned the conduct of the poll as state TV reported that voters "freely and happily" cast their ballots. Witness accounts suggested low turn-out and irregularities in the former British colony, which appears to have organised the election in part to help improve its image. Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Thai prime minister, has said that ethnic minority areas in eastern Myanmar could continue for months. He also said that the country was ready to provide humanitarian assistance as refugee numbers continue to rise. |
| Posted by:Fred |