Burma’s Election and Recent Violence
On Sunday, Burma held its first election in 20 years, although the military government “stacked the deck” in their favor to nearly guarantee that they would win and remain in power. The international community has condemned the elections as a sham. The Burmese military government has not set a timetable for when they will release the results either.
In recent months, the military government created its own political party with unlimited funds for campaigning. Local news reports from within Burma, as well as major news media outlets, all reported rampant election fraud and abuse. For ongoing local coverage from the election, check out the following websites:
On Sunday night and throughout Monday, a gun battle erupted between Burmese military troops and an anti-government group of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers. The fighting began in the town of Myawaddy in Burma, just over the Moei River, three miles from us here in Mae Sot. The fighting escalated as both sides were reinforced by additional soldiers and weapons. Local news reports coming from Burma are unreliable, but it’s generally believed that 5 to 10 Myawaddy civilians were killed and 30 to 40 soliders on both sides were killed. A few stray rocket-propelled grenades even flew across the river and landed in Thailand, injuring a few people (and killing an unlucky dog).
Amidst all of the fighting, thousands of residents of Myawaddy and surrounding villages started fleeing across the river into Thailand for safety. The Thai military was lined up along the river to allow the people to enter safely while preventing the Burmese military or DKBA troops from coming across. Thousands of people were escorted into a Thai army base where they set up a makeshift refugee camp throughout the day yesterday. Fortunately, countless humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) are based in Mae Sot, so humanitarian aid workers were quick to begin assisting the people at the camp.
Amber and I, as well as our friend Sofia and some of the students from our respective organizations, all went to the temporary camp last night. We distributed food and bottles of water to people. The sight of 10,000+ men, women, children, and elderly people in the makeshift camp really opened our eyes to the Burmese people’s struggle. As the sun set and the temperature dropped, people started sleeping on the ground or on plastic sheeting, covering themselves with a spare piece of clothing or even broken strips of cardboard to stay warm. The entire experience was emotionally draining, and we felt very guilty about leaving them at night and returning to our comfortable guesthouse.
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- Myawaddy residents in Mae Sot sitting on the ground
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- Thai soldiers guarding people at the camp
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- Some people slept in Thai soldiers’ tents, while most slept on the ground
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- Myawaddy residents gathered at the makeshift camp
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- A girl holding a bottle of water
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- Amber sitting with a crowd of children
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- People sleeping on the ground at the camp
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- Three boys holding water bottles
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- Thai soldiers watching a crowd of people at the camp
Amber and Steven,
thanks for describing the Mae La camp. I know someone who went to the Bible College at Mae La, so interesting to see pictures of the actual building. It is so hard to understand how the camp life affects the life of people. And as Steven wrote, as outsiders one sees probably things differently than when you have to life there for years and years.
Will this temporary camp in Mae Sot become a permanent one or do the people need to move to different camps? And how long will the temporary camp be in operation?
Kirsti