(CNN) -- Thousands of refugees have begun voluntarily returning to Myanmar from Thailand, after learning that fighting between Myanmarese government forces and a splinter rebel group has wound down, the Thai military said Tuesday.
"The number of refugees should now be less than 10,000 in Mae Sot, since there are many of them who have left Thailand voluntarily this morning, as they learned that the fighting was over in Myawaddy," said Thai 3rd Region Army Commander Lt. General Wannathip Wongwai.
"The Thai authority is now coordinating with the Burmese Myawaddy governor and concerned authorities to open the border bridge to allow those who are willing to go home voluntarily," Wannathip said.
Myanmar also is known as Burma.
About 10,000 Myanmarese had fled to Thailand to escape fighting between Myanmarese government forces and a splinter group of rebels of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, military and border officials said on Monday.
The rebels and Myanmar forces clashed Sunday and Monday over control of the town of Myawaddy, which sits across the Moei River from Mae Sot, Thailand. The Thailand-Burma Friendship bridge connects the two towns.
Wannathip said Myanmarese military officials told him they had retaken control of Myawaddy late Monday afternoon, after bringing in 500 reinforcements to battle the Karen splinter group.
At least five Myanmar refugees and five Thais were injured in the fighting, the officials said. Shells fell on the Thai side of the border, but the Thai military did not return fire, military officials told the Bangkok Post.
According to a report on the website Burma Election Tracker, the clashes began when DKBA militia members who had been employed as government border security troops rebelled because the Myanmar military was forcing people to vote at gunpoint in the past weekend's election.
"In order to win votes in the elections, [the junta] is bullying and forcing people to vote. But the people want to boycott [the vote], so the soldiers are holding them at gunpoint and our troops had to intervene and take sides with the people," the website report quoted Brig. Gen. Na Kham Mwe, head of the breakaway DKBA faction, as saying.
Polls closed Sunday in Myanmar's first election in 20 years, which critics have called a facade of democracy put forth by the ruling military junta.
The military regime has not released election results, but critics say the outcome is all but certain to favor the junta.
Opposition parties were either limited in the candidates they could put on the ballots or boycotted the election altogether. The junta did not allow international monitors.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced the voting conditions in a statement Monday, calling them "insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent."
"Myanmar authorities now have a responsibility to turn the conclusion of the first election in 20 years into a new beginning for the country and its people," Ban said. "Consistent with their commitments, the authorities must demonstrate that the ballot is part of a credible transition towards democratic government, national reconciliation and respect for human rights."
The Karen ethnic minority in Myanmar is divided into two main groups, Buddhists who support the ruling junta and Christians who do not. Those behind Monday's clashes have split from the pro-junta group.
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/09/myanmar.violence/index.html?iref=allsearch
"The number of refugees should now be less than 10,000 in Mae Sot, since there are many of them who have left Thailand voluntarily this morning, as they learned that the fighting was over in Myawaddy," said Thai 3rd Region Army Commander Lt. General Wannathip Wongwai.
"The Thai authority is now coordinating with the Burmese Myawaddy governor and concerned authorities to open the border bridge to allow those who are willing to go home voluntarily," Wannathip said.
Myanmar also is known as Burma.
About 10,000 Myanmarese had fled to Thailand to escape fighting between Myanmarese government forces and a splinter group of rebels of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, military and border officials said on Monday.
The rebels and Myanmar forces clashed Sunday and Monday over control of the town of Myawaddy, which sits across the Moei River from Mae Sot, Thailand. The Thailand-Burma Friendship bridge connects the two towns.
Wannathip said Myanmarese military officials told him they had retaken control of Myawaddy late Monday afternoon, after bringing in 500 reinforcements to battle the Karen splinter group.
At least five Myanmar refugees and five Thais were injured in the fighting, the officials said. Shells fell on the Thai side of the border, but the Thai military did not return fire, military officials told the Bangkok Post.
According to a report on the website Burma Election Tracker, the clashes began when DKBA militia members who had been employed as government border security troops rebelled because the Myanmar military was forcing people to vote at gunpoint in the past weekend's election.
"In order to win votes in the elections, [the junta] is bullying and forcing people to vote. But the people want to boycott [the vote], so the soldiers are holding them at gunpoint and our troops had to intervene and take sides with the people," the website report quoted Brig. Gen. Na Kham Mwe, head of the breakaway DKBA faction, as saying.
Polls closed Sunday in Myanmar's first election in 20 years, which critics have called a facade of democracy put forth by the ruling military junta.
The military regime has not released election results, but critics say the outcome is all but certain to favor the junta.
Opposition parties were either limited in the candidates they could put on the ballots or boycotted the election altogether. The junta did not allow international monitors.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon denounced the voting conditions in a statement Monday, calling them "insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent."
"Myanmar authorities now have a responsibility to turn the conclusion of the first election in 20 years into a new beginning for the country and its people," Ban said. "Consistent with their commitments, the authorities must demonstrate that the ballot is part of a credible transition towards democratic government, national reconciliation and respect for human rights."
The Karen ethnic minority in Myanmar is divided into two main groups, Buddhists who support the ruling junta and Christians who do not. Those behind Monday's clashes have split from the pro-junta group.
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/09/myanmar.violence/index.html?iref=allsearch
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