15,000 refugees flee Myanmar post-vote fighting

AP
YANGON, Myanmar -Fighting between ethnic rebels and Myanmar government troops ha
s sent at least 15,000 refugees fleeing into Thailand just after a widely critic
ized election expected to usher in a parliament sympathetic to the military regi
me.
Fighting raged Monday at key border points, wounding at least 10 people on both
sides of the frontier as stray shots fell into Thailand.
The clashes underlined Myanmar's vulnerability to unrest even as it passes throu
gh a key stage of the ruling junta's self-proclaimed "road map to democracy." Th
e country has been under virtually continuous military rule since 1962, and has
faced rebellions by its ethnic minorities since even before obtaining independen
ce from Britain in 1948.
In the heaviest clashes, Karen rebels reportedly seized a police station and pos
t office Sunday in the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. Sporadic gun and mortar
fire continued into Monday afternoon. More fighting broke out further south for
one hour Monday at the Three Pagodas Pass, said local Thai official Chamras Jung
noi, but there was no word on any casualties.
However, Thai officials said late Monday that fighting had died down, and govern
ment troops had regained control of Myawaddy. Tens of thousands of ethnic Karen
villagers who have fled decades of fighting in the border regions already shelte
r in refugees camps on the Thai side of the frontier, but the newcomers were exp
ected to return home soon.
It was the biggest one-day tide of refugees to flee into Thailand in recent year
s. Refugees continued to arrive into the evening, and some independent estimates
put their number closer to 20,000.
Groups representing ethnic minorities who make up some 40 percent of the populat
ion had warned in recent days that civil war could erupt if the military tries t
o impose its highly centralized constitution and deprive them of rights.
The fighting threatened to overshadow electoral developments, which include moun
ting chagrin on the part of anti-government parties over what they charge was bl
atant cheating on behalf of the military's chosen candidates.
Speaking in New Delhi on Monday during his tour of Asia, U.S. President Barack O
bama said it was unacceptable for Myanmar's government to "steal an election" an
d hold its people's aspirations hostage to the regime's greed and paranoia.
Obama says leaders in countries like the U.S. and India have a responsibility to
condemn such gross violations of human rights. He was speaking before India's p
arliament.
Col. Wannatip Wongwai, commander of Thailand's Third Army Region responsible for
security in the area, said Myanmar government troops appeared to have retaken c
ontrol of Myawaddy, and the Karen rebels held just a few positions on the town's
outskirts.
"As soon as the situation is under control, we will start sending the refugees b
ack to Myawaddy," he told The Associated Press.
"At least 15,000 refugees have crossed from eastern Myanmar into northern Thaila
nd since this morning," said Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the U.N.'s refugee ag
ency, which was providing tents and other materials to shelter the refugees. Non
-governmental groups also were offering aid.
Refugees marched in an orderly fashion, shepherded by Thai security personnel, t
hrough the streets of the Thai town of Mae Sot, which is just across a river fro
m Myawaddy. Those few carrying belongings toted them on top of their heads, whil
e several lucky ones got rides on pickup trucks.
Khin Ohmar, a spokeswoman for Burma Partnership, an umbrella group of Myanmar pr
o-democracy activists based in Thailand, said a faction of the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army, had seized the Myawaddy police station and post office Sunday.
The guerrilla group sides with Myanmar's military regime, but a faction has spli
t off and along with other Karen rebels is fighting the central government.
Most observers have rejected Sunday's poll as engineered to solidify military co
ntrol, though some say having a parliament could provide an opening for moves to
ward democracy.
"It seems likely that the very small public political space will be widened and
this is probably the best outcome we can hope for from the election," said Moniq
ue Skidmore of Australian National University.
The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party was certain to win an en
ormous share of the seats, despite widespread popular opposition to 48 years of
military rule. It fielded 1,112 candidates for the 1,159 seats in the two-house
national parliament and 14 regional parliaments. The largest anti-government par
ty, the National Democratic Force, contested just 164 spots.
And the constitution sets aside 25 percent of parliamentary seats for military a
ppointees.
As early results trickled in Monday, state media and the Election Commission rep
orted that 40 junta-backed candidates had already won their races, including six
seats won by recently retired military generals and ministers including Foreign
Minister Nyan Win in constituencies that were uncontested.
But a day after the polls closed, virtually no other official results â even on vote
r turnout â were available, and there was no timetable for releasing them.
The NDF said provisional returns it had collected showed it winning 15 seats.
NDF chief Khin Maung Swe accused the USDP of using every possible method to stea
l the vote, and said it was "sure to win 90 percent if they continue to cheat in
such manner."
He described a case in the central city of Mandalay, where one popular NDF candi
date ran against Health Minister Kyaw Myint, the USDP candidate. An initial coun
t at polling booths Sunday evening showed the NDF candidate in front, but later
that night, a bag of 3,376 ballots from advance voting arrived, which included 2
,500 in favor of the USDP, enough to make it the winner.
Khin Maung Swe said there were many cases where lagging USDP candidates received
a boost from the arrival of such ballots. Exile Myanmar media had reported that
people casting advance ballots were often pressured to vote for the pro-governm
ent party.
The NDF is led by breakaway members of the former National League for Democracy
of detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won a lands
lide victory in the last elections in 1990 but was barred from taking office. Th
e NLD was disbanded by the government after declining to run this year because i
t considered the election process unfair and undemocratic.
Democracy advocates are looking toward the coming few days, when Suu Kyi's term
of house arrest is supposed to expire. Her lawyer Nyan Win said Monday that he w
as certain she would be released Saturday.
"We are making plans for a welcoming ceremony," he said.
Suu Kyi has been locked up in her Yangon villa on and off ever since 1989. Myanm
ar holds a total of some 2,200 political prisoners.
One of Suu Kyi's two sons, 33-year-old Kim Aris, applied for a visa Monday at th
e Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in hopes of seeing his mother for the first time in
10 years. Aris, who lives in Britain, has repeatedly been denied visas.
Asked if he was optimistic, Aris told reporters he had "not too much hope. But t
here's always a little bit of hope. We'll see." He called the elections "a load
of rubbish."
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