InfoAnda - Fears for refugees as Myanmar election looms

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Asia Pacific World Fears for refugees as Myanmar election looms AFP - 1 hour 14 minutes ago Send IM Story Print Fears for refugees as Myanmar election looms MAE LA CAMP, Thailand (AFP) - – Hla Hla Aye wept as she recalled leaving her son behind when she fled Myanmar a few weeks ago -- with three other children, she and her husband couldn't carry them all to safety. Her family joined about 148,000 refugees from the military-ruled country living in limbo in camps across the border in Thailand, most of whom fled civil war-torn eastern villages. But these newcomers have arrived at a time of growing uncertainty, with an upcoming election in Myanmar fuelling talk in Thailand about sending the refugees back, despite expectations that nothing will change in their homeland. "If the government stays like this, the country will not become peaceful, it will get worse," said Hla Hla Aye, 28, as she breast-fed her baby in Mae La, the largest of nine refugee camps along the border. "If people go back it is very, very dangerous for them," she added. Caught up in Karen state's six-decade conflict between Myanmar's military and ethnic rebels, who seek greater autonomy, Hla Hla Aye said her husband and other civilians were beaten for refusing to work as porters for the state army. "Soldiers beat him a lot on his back and his wrist. He was in a lot of pain," she said. "We didn't dare to stay in the village, we kept having to run away... so we decided to come here." While the camps have provided refuge for 25 years, Thailand's National Security Council chief Tawin Pleansri said their inhabitants would be sent back home "if everything in Myanmar is peaceful and orderly". "We have discussed repatriation, although we have not yet set a time frame, and we consider that the situation is likely to improve after the election," he told AFP. Western countries have widely criticised the junta's preparations for Myanmar's first elections in 20 years as a sham designed to shore up almost five decades of military rule. No date for the polls has yet been announced but the vote is expected in October or November. Activists warn that even the best-case scenario is unlikely to improve life in the refugees' rural homeland, which is expected to remain heavily militarised. "The election, even if it is free and fair, won't immediately change the situation in terms of human rights abuses in eastern Burma," said Matt Finch of the border-based Karen Human Rights Group, using Myanmar's former name. Vast numbers have fled to escape the junta's counter-insurgency campaign, which rights groups say deliberately targets civilians, driving them from their homes, destroying villages and forcing them to work for the army. Cases of rape, torture and execution by the military have also been documented by rights campaigners. While an ongoing resettlement programme has allowed tens of thousands of refugees to move to third countries, an influx to the Thai camps of more than 1,000 people each month means numbers have not dwindled. Within Mae La camp, home to riverside bamboo huts and about 47,000 displaced people, a bustling, town-like atmosphere belies the uncertain status of its residents. Cheerful children sing folk songs in well-equipped classrooms and tear around playing football in the monsoon season mud, while street-side stalls offer stylish laptops, DVDs, handicrafts and even beauty treatments. But an overall drop in assistance had begun to afflict the "very vulnerable" border group, according to US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, Eric P. Schwartz, who visited Mae La in June. He said he was "particularly concerned" for the refugees ahead of Myanmar's poll, with repression and restrictions in the unfolding electoral process unlikely to change their need for protection. Therefore "it will be critical for authorities (in Thailand) to continue to permit such refuge," he added. Thailand sparked global anger in December when it used troops to forcibly repatriate about 4,500 ethnic Hmong back to Laos, despite fears of persecution on their return for their hill tribe's US alliance during the Vietnam War. The government is now cracking down on illegal immigrants, estimated to number more than one million, most of whom are from Myanmar and allegedly face rights abuses from a proxy state militia when they are deported. While the majority in the camps have been registered as needing protection, 30 percent are yet to be screened and are therefore technically illegal migrants, according to Sally Thompson of the Thai Burma Border Consortium. "There is a climate of... fear, doubt, as to what will be the future for the people in the camps," said Thompson, whose organisation is responsible for the refugees' food and shelter. A UN Refugee Agency spokeswoman also stressed the need for efficient screening by Thai authorities to weed out people who lack legitimate claims to protection, who have been entering the camps with hopes of resettlement. Registered camp dweller Cho Cho San, a pregnant 33-year-old who fled eastern Myanmar early last year, said she struggled to feed her family on the food rations provided and was worried about healthcare. "This place is not the best place but it is better than Burma," she said. "Even though we have some difficulties, we can stay here in safety." 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