Myawaddy refugees sent back to Myanmar after fleeing to Thailand

Thousands of people from Myanmar who fled to Thailand to escape fighting in the Karen State town of Myawaddy were sent back across the border on Wednesday morning, according to volunteers in one of the makeshift camps where they had been staying. More than 5,000 people in Myawaddy Township initially left their homes in the first week of April amid clashes in the Kawkareik Township village of Thingan Nyinaung, west of Myawaddy, between the junta and forces led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)—the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU)—which seized control of the town earlier this month. On Monday night, citing military sources, AFP reported that the Myanmar junta had retaken to Myawaddy; on Sunday, the KNLA temporarily retreated from the town after attacking junta troops from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 275 one day earlier, residents and a KNU spokesperson said. The LIB 275 troops, who had been hiding under a bridge, retook their base in the area. It was unclear at the time of reporting which group was in control of the town. The number displaced was most recently believed to be around 10,000. Of these people, more than 3,000 ended up in Thae Pon and Seik Chang, two Thai camps set up on goat and cattle farms outside of the town of Mae Sot on the the Moei River, the waterway which separates Thailand and Myanmar and known as the Thaungyin in Burmese. Local relief workers told Myanmar Now that an order to send the people staying at these sites back to Myawaddy on Wednesday came from the “authorities” in both countries, but did not elaborate. Many had fled the fighting in Karen State three times in less than one month, first from Thingan Nyinaung, then to Myawaddy town, and then to Thailand. “Until last night, this camp was packed with families sleeping on the ground,” said a man who had volunteered at the Thae Pon site. Another volunteer who had to help arrange for the refugees’ repatriation on Wednesday said that they were scared to return to Myanmar. “Last night, some of them even cried telling us they didn’t want to leave the camp,” she told Myanmar Now. Social welfare groups in the area such as the Overseas Irrawaddy Association said on social media that it also assisted in the repatriation, noting that those who were unable to return to their homes in Myawaddy were sheltering at monasteries in the township and would continue to require humanitarian support. Several trucks were seen on Wednesday taking the displaced persons back towards the Myanmar border. Their condition and location was not known at the time of reporting. The decision to repatriate the refugees was reportedly “arranged between the two governments,” the woman helping in Thae Pon said, presumably referring to Thailand and the Myanmar military council. “We told them they could come back anytime if something happens again,” she added. On Monday, prior to the move, Thailand’s deputy ministers of defence, foreign affairs, and the interior visited Mae Sot to assess the local impact of the nearby fighting. News of the junta’s alleged recapture of Myawaddy came out later that evening. Myanmar Now contacted the three ministries for comment by phone and email, but had not received a response at the time of reporting. The situation in Myawaddy appeared calmer this week, with people seen returning across the first Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge. However, the bridge is closed to those who wish to enter Thailand. Local relief workers told Myanmar Now on Monday that displaced persons who had voluntarily returned to Myawaddy, both from Thailand and camps along the Myanmar side of the Moei River, were only able to stay at their homes during the day, and had to continue to sleep in shelters along the river at night, due to fears that they would again need to flee. Thousands more internally displaced persons (IDPs) staying in camps on the Moei have remained in those sites, as well as in monasteries in Myawaddy, and—similar to those who crossed the Thai border—have faced difficulties obtaining sufficient food, water, and basic medicines. A representative from an IDP camp near the Palaw Tapo area of Myawaddy Township said that the influx of fleeing people “would pose challenges in the long run” but that locals were “managing” the situation. There are some 3,000 IDPs in the Palaw Tapo camp, which has been hosting people since fighting around the town of Lay Kay Kaw, nine miles south of Myawaddy, in 2021. Still more IDPs are sheltering in the villages of Mae Htaw Talay, Chaung Sone, and around Shwe Kokko, the site of a major casino complex.

Myawaddy refugees sent back to Myanmar after fleeing to Thailand

Local volunteers who had been supporting people displaced by fighting in the border trade hub say that ‘both countries’ decided on the return of 3,000 recent refugees from two makeshift camps

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