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Fearful Burmese refugees go home
The Australian - September 2, 2009
Michael Sainsbury, Nansan (China) – Chinese authorities yesterday began dismantling refugee camps on its border with Burma as thousands of Burmese refugees nervously headed home after fleeing into China to escape deadly clashes between junta forces and ethnic rebels.
Officials in China's southwestern Yunnan province said 37,000 refugees streamed into their country after days of fighting between the Kokang ethnic minority and the Burmese junta.
Chinese authorities have been keen to convince the Burmese to return home, fearing a continued influx would stretch resources in the remote part of the country's vast Yunnan province, 10 hours' drive from the nearest big city and airport at Lincang.
While the majority of Burmese nationals had returned by last night, thousands of Chinese nationals, mainly businesspeople who have been living in Burma for decades, have been forced to remain in China – with only one member from each family allowed to cross the border to check on family property and possessions.
Fears remain high that more violence may occur as the Burmese military ponders whether to take on other armed ethnic groups including the United Wa Army, the region's largest militia with about 25,000 troops, a move that could result in a regional civil war.
The Australian has learned from Chinese sources with family members living across the border that the junta was considering taking on the Wa after its relatively easy defeat of the Kokang.
The Wa is one of four groups in the northern Shan state that have refused government demands that they fall in under the military to create a border guard force by October.
The border situation has thrown a further cloud over already delicate relations between China and its resource-rich neighbour.
The Kokang people are ethnic Han who make up about 90per cent of the Chinese population and China is building a double pipeline for Burmese gas and Middle-East oil up through the northern jungles in the area. It will be Burma's biggest infrastructure project – one that China's own military will be keen to protect – and seal China's position as Burma's biggest trading partner.
Burma has recently been seeking to lessen its reliance on China's arms, striking closer relations with North Korea, which has sparked fears the country is seeking nuclear weapons.
The US weighed in yesterday, urging Burma to stop attacks on ethnic groups.
"We urge the Burmese authorities to cease their military campaign and to develop a genuine dialogue with the ethnic minority groups, as well as with Burma's democratic opposition," US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
"The brutal fighting has forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes for safety in Thailand and China, and has reduced both stability and the prospects for national reconciliation in Burma." (Additional reporting: AFP)
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