Thread: Thailand Warned Over Possible Airstrikes Along Northern Border

Thousands of people in five refugee camps in Myanmar’s Shan State that borders Thailand are facing the “grave threat” of military airstrikes, a committee representing the camps has said.


Many refugees have started to build bunkers after the regime informed Thai authorities of imminent attacks against an armed group with bases at the border


The military’s Tachileik Township Border Committee last week sent a letter to its Thai counterpart in Mae Sai warning of upcoming attacks in the area, the Shan State Refugee Committee-Thai Border said in a statement.

The military was planning assaults on bases controlled by the Shan State Army along the Thai border, the March 30 letter said.


The attacks were “necessary”, the letter added, because of the ethnic armed group’s stance against the coup regime, the Committee said.


The military’s border committee also reassured the Thai authorities that no Myanmar military ammunition would cross into Thai territory during the attacks.


The Shan State Army bases sit opposite three northern Thai provinces: Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son.


Also located in these areas are the five refugee camps: Gawng Murng Murng, Loi Tai Leng, Loi Lam, Loi Sarm Sip, and Loi Kaw Wan. The SSRC-TB is made up of representatives of these five camps—as well as one refugee camp in Thailand—and is “gravely concerned” for the refugees, who have been building makeshift bunkers in case of an attack.


Myanmar Refugees have nowhere to go


“Most of the refugees fled their homes because of armed conflict,” a Shan State Refugee Committee representative Sai Leng told Myanmar Now. The representative was referring to a scorched earth campaign by the Myanmar military in the late 1990s that displaced some 300,000 people in Shan State.

“They have no safe place to go if the military launches an attack,” he said.


Military aircraft have been seen flying over Loi Tai Leng in recent days, he added, raising concerns that the regime has been “collecting information for targets.”


Throughout 2020, military drones were seen flying over the Loi Lam and Loi Kaw Wan camps, local sources told CTN News.


The Restoration Council of Shan State has asked that the Thai authorities allow the refugees to cross the border and seek refuge in case of a military strike against their communities.


“We want to request that in an emergency, the Thai government allow these people to come and stay in Thailand, at least in the short term, if there is a military attack,” Sai Leng said.


The Shan State Army is among the 10 armed groups who signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement before the coup but have now declared their support for the Civil Disobedience Movement that aims to topple the junta.


Airstrikes on ethnic Karen communities


On Saturday they once again condemned the ongoing junta crackdown on anti-coup protesters, which has left more than 560 people dead including 47 children.


Shan State Army leader Gen Yawd Serk said that the leaders of the coup council “must be held accountable” and that the 10 armed groups “firmly stand with the people,” The Bangkok Post reported.


Since March 27, the junta’s armed forces have also launched several airstrikes against ethnic Karen communities in areas of Bago Region and Karen State controlled by the Karen National Union. At the time of reporting, the Karen Peace Support Network estimated that around 10 people had been killed and at least 20,000 displaced throughout the region by the attacks.


“If we think about what has happened in Karen State, we are very worried about air attacks. It’s very serious,” Gen Yawd said.


Some 2,000 people from Karen refugee camp Ei Htu Hta on the Karen-Thai border attempted to seek refuge in Thailand from the airstrikes, but the Thai authorities forced them back across the border on March 29.


Thailand Warned Over Possible Airstrikes Along Northern Border

Thailand Warned Over Possible Airstrikes Along Northern Border

good job they have just paid a gazillion baht for a submarine then.

So do any of our erstwhile fans of Gaddafi and critics of those who took him out think it's appropriate to stand by and let the Myanmar military bomb civilians?

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

erstwhile fans of Gaddafi

This kind of caricature really is repetitive and tiresome on here, harriet.

Well, if you're gonna bomb another country because some badguys are there, it's good to warn them first.


No doubt more than the US did when they turned Laos into the most bombed country in history. Though I could be completely wrong on that.


Given that the Thai navy were selling refugees to Malasian human trafficers not long ago, I guess they're not too pushed on refugee camps being bombed, especially ones that are so far inland and difficult to transport cargo to the southern neighbours.

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

^That argument Harry could be used to justify the intervention of any country into the internal affairs of any other country.

Do you consider genocide by the state military to be the normal "internal affairs of any other country"?

(Chinastan excepted of course).

Originally Posted by cyrille

This kind of caricature really is repetitive and tiresome on here, harriet.

Hardly a caricature sybille. It's a valid comparison whether you like it or not.

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

He was a filthy little butcher, but were Obama and Clinton (as Secretary of State) justified in their involvement and eventual overthrow of the regime

Whether he was "a filthy little butcher" we know only from the "unbiased" media. Or do we have another choice of media? Or do you believe that our "unbiased" media tell us something favorable about somebody the establishment hates?

Find the Gaddafi's famous speech in UN gen. assembly 2009 where he theatrically torn UN Charter its articles had no longer be heed. Whether you find in his 100 min. speech something what he said was not true? For that what he told - many of them left the auditorium - he had signed his death certificate... Not to speak about his project for Africa how to deal without US$...

If he was "a filthy little butcher" why he had been visited so often by the big guys - you will find many photos with them on Google. And how they had liked his money, Sarkozy's case is still open after many years...

How the Libya people are enjoying their life now comparison with life before? Where can you read that?

Originally Posted by Edmond

Well, if you're gonna bomb another country because some badguys are there, it's good to warn them first.

No doubt more than the US did when they turned Laos into the most bombed country in history. Though I could be completely wrong on that.

For the record, that should have been stopped as well, as should have the Khmer Rouge. The US has a lot to answer for. But we weren't ever discussing that here, so it's kind of irrelevant.

The question is should the UN or someone else act to stop the Myanmar military slaughtering civilians?

I think yes.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

For the record, that should have been stopped as well, as should have the Khmer Rouge. The US has a lot to answer for. But we weren't ever discussing that here, so it's kind of irrelevant.

The question is should the UN or someone else act to stop the Myanmar military slaughtering civilians?

I think yes.

If the stories were actually true then yes. The UN could get involved. But those stories are always exposed later as frauds designed to paint target regimes into corners for sanctions and eventual war.

The military’s border committee also reassured the Thai authorities that no Myanmar military ammunition would cross into Thai territory during the attacks. Jolly decent of them to not send boxes of ammunition across the border. You never know who may end up with it!

It is difficult to do much when the surrounding countries are just as corrupt and dont give a flying f#%k.

Originally Posted by Hugh Cow

It is difficult to do much when the surrounding countries are just as corrupt and dont give a flying f#%k.

Precisely. Their worst nightmare is democratic rule. The gravy train would well and truly hit the buffers.