Groups participating in a meeting to discuss repatriating Karen refugees on Jan. 26 included the Karen breakaway group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and some leaders from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 7, the military wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), as well as NGOs concerned with refugees, said Karen sources in the KNU.
In this photo taken on June, 2009, a Karen refugee with two legs missing lights up her pipe next to a sleeping baby under a temporary shelter on the Thai-Burmese border. (Photo: Getty Images)
Sources in Mae Sot said the Karen villagers were reportedly told by Thai authorities to say they wanted to return to their homes.
DKBA sources said the DKBA agreed to clear up their landmines for the villagers but they were not responsible for the mines planted by the KNLA.
Karen sources on the border said the DKBA and some KNLA Brigage 7 leaders wanted to repatriate the refugees, not NGO groups such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC).
The DKBA, meanwhile, asked the TBBC to support the villagers with food for three years when they return to their home, the sources said.
KNU sources said a few of the KNLA Brigade 7 leaders who are trying to persuade the villagers to return home want to conduct joint logging operations with the DKBA, probably in Pa-an District in Karen State.
Since the beginning of December 2009, local commanders from KNLA Brigade 6 have allowed logging in Kawkareik District, where Thai companies are logging in two main hardwood forest reserves, according to local businessmen and KNU sources.
Local businessmen in the Three Pagodas Pass said they were permitted unlimited logging across the border in southern Karen State by paying tax in advance to the KNU commanders.
According to KNU Forestry Department data, the two main forests in Kawkareik District―Mae Kathr and Kyunchaung—are rich in uncut hardwoods, including teak and ironwood.
KNU sources said the KNLA Brigade 7 area near its former headquarters are also rich in teak and wildlife. The headquarters fell in June 2009 after the attack by a joint DKBA and Burmese government force that forced Karen villagers in the area to flee into Thailand.
Sally Thompson, deputy director of the TBBC, said the Thai military would like to send the refugees back to their home, but not by force.
The Thai authorities will find an appropriate solution for the refugees if they want to stay on Thai soil, Thompson said, adding, however, that an alternative solution has not yet been found.
According to a Thai News Agency report on Jan. 25, Lt-Gen Thanongsak Apirakyothin, the 3rd Army Area Commander, was quoted as saying the refugees would be safe when they return to their country as there is no fighting in Burma.
The Thai government has no policy to provide additional temporary shelter for the refugees, Gen Apirakyothin said.
Karen human rights groups have voiced their concern over the ongoing pressure to repatriate the refugees. They said the villagers will be unsafe if they return home.
Poe Shan, a leader of the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) said, “It is certain they will face forced labor by the DKBA.”
The DKBA is trying to persuade the Karen villagers to return home because they had difficulties finding labor after all the villagers in the region fled to Thailand during the fighting last, Poe Shan said.
Returning villagers will face risks from the large numbers of unmarked landmines planted by the DKBA and KNU during the fighting, he said.
Mines have injured or killed at least five people including a 13-year-old boy and a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy near Ler Per Her since June 2009, according to the KHRG.
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