Thailand tires of six-decade Karen conflict

The Thai-Myanmar Friend-ship Bridge has been closed to traffic since July 12, an indication that not all is well in the Thai-Myanmar relationship. Myanmar's military regime closed the bridge to tourism and trade eight months ago, claiming that Thailand was deliberately trying to alter the course of the Moei River, which defines the common border, with construction of an embarkment on their side.
Thai authorities said the real reason for the closure was Myanmar's conviction that Mae Sot, a border town in the north-western province of Tak, is an enclave for the Karen National Union (KNU), possibly the world's oldest insurgency. Mae Sot has a long history of close ties with the Karen, an ethnic minority group that has been fighting Myanmar governments for semi-autonomy in the Karen State since 1949.
Former KNU leader Bo Mya built Mae Sot's Porvor Hospital, in which he died on Christmas Eve 2006. The town and the surrounding territories have provided sanctuary for tens of thousands of Karen refugees fleeing fighting in their homeland since the early 1980s, when Myanmar's army launched a determined offensive to wipe out the Karen National Liberation Army, the military arm of the KNU.
There are currently about 150,000 Karen refugees living in temporary camps in Tak and other Thai border provinces. "The main problem is that Myanmar does not see the refugees in Tak as refugees," Tak Governor Samart Loifah said. "They see them as hidden KNU supporters. This is why they refuse to open the bridge."
The Thai government, which for decades used the Karen and other ethnic rebel groups to form buffer zones between themselves and Thailand's traditional enemy Myanmar, is now changing its stance on the Karen. For instance, there are an estimated 11,000 Karen refugees on the border now who have fled recent fighting but who have been denied entry to Thailand and refused food and medical care, according to border relief workers.
The Back Pack Health Worker Team, a non-governmental organisation based in Mae Sot, is providing aid to the new arrivals despite the government's prohibition. Mahn Mahn, executive director of the group, blamed Thailand's get-tough stance on the refugees on three mega-projects involving Thai investors. In November, Myanmar granted a leading Thai construction company rights to build a deep-sea port and related infrastructure in Dawei, Taninthayi State - an area traditionally controlled by the Karen.
The regime has also approved the construction of the Haigyi dam project on the Salween River, northern Karen State, to supply power to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand. And then there is the Asia Highway project, which is destined to pass through Mae Sot to Myawaddy, on the Myanmar side, over the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, if it is ever opened again.
"All these projects will help the Myanmar military to destroy the ethnic groups here, especially the KNU and KNLA," Mahn Mahn said. Besides big business interests, recent political developments in Myanmar have had an obvious impact on Thai-Myanmar relations, to the detriment of Thai-Karen relations. Although far from free and fair, Myanmar did hold a general election on November 7, and six days later it freed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a gesture Western democracies have been demanding for years.
In Mae Sot, the polling was marred by fighting across the border in Myawaddy. The clash was started by General Saw Lah Pwe, leader of the 5th Brigade of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a breakaway faction of the KNLA. He allegedly attacked the city to protest the election. The DKBA was previously allied to the Myanmar army. Saw Lah Pwe's rebellion appeared to have more to do with his refusal to accept the Myanmar junta's demand that he transform his 5th Brigade into a border guard force under their control, than with concerns over the election, observers said.
Much of the fighting in the Karen State over the past three months can be traced to the Myawaddy incident that put the Myanmar army back on the offensive. "I just see Thailand losing a lot from this border situation," Tak Governor Samart said. "First, Myanmar is suspicious of us, and second, Thais lose out economically with the bridge closed."
The Karen are likely losers too, since Thailand has been their only safe refuge for the past six decades of war. But long-time observers of the Karen struggle remain optimistic. "You've had periods over the past 20 years when things looked even grimmer for the Karen," said Desmond Ball, professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University and author of numerous papers on the Karen. "I don't think this is worse than some of those periods."