Thailand and ASEAN increasingly uneasy over Burmese conflict
Audio 02:29
Food brought to Burmese refugees on the Thailand-Burma border in January 2022. © REUTERS/Str
By: Carol Isoux
3 mins
In the more than a year since the generals took power in Burma, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and more than 11,000 arrested.
Some areas of the country, particularly at the borders, have descended into armed conflict, causing the flight of hundreds of thousands of people.
While Burma's direct neighbours, such as Thailand, fear a refugee crisis, ASEAN seems more powerless than ever to solve the Burmese problem.
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From our correspondent in Bangkok,
At the edge of the river that marks the border between Thailand and Burma, a modest hut where two Thai soldiers are standing.
Opposite, on the Burmese shore, plastic and bamboo shelters, where a few dozen Burmese refugees have settled.
The soldiers watch the passage.
For several months, the Thai army has sent reinforcements to avoid a massive influx of refugees.
A young Burmese woman, settled on the Thai side, often comes to bring them food or basic necessities.
“
When there are donations, we leave them there, at the edge of the water, and they come to pick them up, on small boats,
she explains
.
Finally, they don't have boats, rather plastic buoys.
It's not very deep.
Then she adds: "
They don't want to land on the Thai shore because if they do, the soldiers you see there will arrest them and take them to a wasteland that used to be used for cattle so far. .
This is where they park the refugees.
It's a horrible place, they don't want to live there.
At least here they are free…
”
► Also to listen: Testimonies: Burmese refugees flock to the border with Thailand
“ASEAN is not a united group, it is very difficult for them to make decisions”
In these makeshift camps, villagers and fleeing fighters hide together.
Their access is therefore strictly restricted.
In fact, Burmese soldiers regularly carry out reconnaissance patrols from the other side, and know very well that pro-democracy fighters are hiding on Thai soil.
But going public would put Thailand in a delicate diplomatic situation.
Itself led by former putschist soldiers, it has never officially taken a position against the Burmese junta.
For Saw Taw Nee of the Karen National Union, Burma's neighbors have not taken the right approach to resolving the Burmese conflict.
We have noticed that China and Western countries are delegating to ASEAN the task of solving the problem of the Burmese crisis.
But ASEAN is not a united group, it is very difficult for it to make decisions.
Anyway, her approach is not the right one, she asks for a return to the situation of 2020 before the coup.
If we do that, it's only a change of regime, that is to say the League for Democracy will return to power, the army too, we will have to negotiate again with the military... We will turn round.
Ethnic leaders are now demanding a radical change in the Constitution, which keeps the military permanently out of politics.
Within ASEAN, democratic and authoritarian countries have trouble agreeing on the issue.
► To read also: The Burmese case continues to divide Asean
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