© DanChurchAid
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| 30 year-old Naw Gay Wah and her three children arrived safely in one of the Thai camps. |
“They burned down our whole village and blocked all food supplies. They also put out new mines on the paths between villages so that we no longer can communicate”, says the 36 year-old man, Saw Kler Say. Like all other new refugees, he is from the ethnic Karen minority that for 53 years has been in civil war with Burma’s regime.
The 30 year-old woman Naw Gay Wah who has just arrived to one of the Thai camps, tells that the SPDC forces currently are taking away both food and houses.
“They burned down our rice fields and our houses. All 50 families from my village had to flee. I am amongst the first ones arriving at the camp here in Thailand, the rest are still hiding in the jungle”, she tells.
With her three children, the youngest a year and a half old, she has found her way to the camp despite mountains, thick jungle, the rains, mud and rivers.
The new refugees are currently living under a piece of plastic hanging from the trees and they sleep on a bamboo mat. But with the help of many organisations, including DanChurchAid and the Thai authorities, they can hopefully soon live in bamboo huts that are more suitable for the camps in the jungle.
Thousands of internally displaced
The refugees reaching Thailand is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of them still hide in Burma and are difficult to reach because the Burmese government refuse aid organisations access.
The biggest organisation for internally displaced Karen people in Burma is called CIDKP and its leader, Saw Hla Henry, is pessimistic.
“What is happening at the moment is the worse attack on the Karen people for more than 10 years. The government wants to clear Karen State for people. The attacks started in the Taungoo district in the northern part of the state and are now spreading south. Many thousands of people are now displaced as a result”, he says.
Superstition, paranoia and the wish to be isolated
One reason behind the ethnic cleansing is Burma’s new capital, Pyinmana, 400 kilometres north of the former capital, Rangoon. Superstition, paranoia and the wish to be isolated may explain why Burma’s leaders located their new capital out in the jungle, far away from everything
According to the generals, security needs to be a priority and Karen State is near Pyinmana. That is why the northern part of Karen State has to be cleared of people, offers Saw Hla Henry.
Surprisingly, the Burmese government has itself told the international media that they are attacking Karen State, saying that they want to protect themselves against “terrorist insurgents”.
The accelerated ethnic cleansing worries DanChurchAid, especially as the attacks seem to continue further south in Karen State to Papun and Mutraw.
Difficult to find money for the refugees
Already, the Thai camps are facing their biggest crisis in 22 years in obtaining enough money to buy rice for the refugees.
Inside Burma, 50 local people are paid by DanChurchAid to send out doctors to the villages and camps for the internally displaced.
Food supplies to the refugees are organised locally by the Thai Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).
“We still have problems getting enough money for rice for the refugees. And the new refugees only make the financial crisis worse. However, the new refugees do receive food right away, despite the crisis”, says Sally Thompson, Deputy Executive Director at TBBC, who buys food for the more than 150,000 Burmese refugees to Thailand, partly with money from DanChurchAid.
EU’s aid organisation ECHO is amongst the partners who have helped solve the crisis as are DANIDA and Danes who donated 3.5 million Danish kroner through DanChurchAid’s Christmas collection last year for Burmese refugees.
The article was first published on www.noedhjaelp.dk , 19 May 2006. Translated by Heidi Rasmussen.