By Kantarawaddy Times
Rumours are spreading that Thai authorities will send Karenni refugees who fled air attacks on their displaced camp in Karenni State back to Burma, but the chairperson of the temporary camp where they stay in Thailand hasn’t heard any information that supports this.
Naw Moo Thaw said, “The Thai authority hasn’t told us about it until now. But they also haven’t told us that we are allowed to build a permanent camp.”
Daw Wee Meh, who fled from the Daw Hnoe Ku camp with 3,886 others when the airstrikes started over a month ago doesn’t want to be sent back.
“I want to stay here,” she said.
Another woman, aged 30, says the junta continues to attack around their camp, conducting airstrikes and shelling the area.
“For me, I do not want to return to Burma. Whether I can register as a refugee with the UN or go to a third country, all I want is to live in a safe place,” she told Kantarawaddy Times.
The refugees are staying in bamboo huts in a designated area of Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province. Donors have been permitted to bring them food, but they can’t leave the Thai camp.
Last month, the Karenni National Progressive Party asked for permission to open a school for the over 1,400 children at the camp. They also want to include a rehabilitation programme to help the children cope with the trauma they experienced when regime jet fighters attacked Daw Hnoe Ku on 12 July.
