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Thousands flee as Kachin fighting escalates
Irrawaddy - September 27, 2011
Kaw Ja, a member of a Kachin youth group which is helping refugees in the area, said that many thousands of people living in four townships in the northern Shan State battle region have taken shelter with relatives or friends due to the conflict.
She claimed that as many as 20,000 refugees may have abandoned their homes in the region, but The Irrawaddy cannot independently verify this figure.
"Villagers can hardly be found in the war zone. But it is hard to tell if they are refugees or internally displace people because most take shelter in houses of relatives or close friends. Some villagers who have no relatives or friends have taken shelter at the church, but they run away when the police investigate and take their photo," said Kaw Ja.
There are more than 200 villages boasting a population of over 200,000 people from various ethnic groups in the area controled by KIA Battalion 4. Many residents who accept villagers face an investigation from authorities for having overnight guests without permission, she added.
"I heard villagers are running as much as they can, but still nobody is giving them assistance," said La Rit who heads the Kachin Refugee Support Group.
Due to the outbreak of violent clashes between the KIA and government troops in June, Laiza has seen an influx of more than 10,000 refugees.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, KIA spokesman La Nan said that he did not know many details about the refugees other than increasing numbers could be heading to border towns such as Muse, Kyugok and Namkham.
Since 1997, the Burmese regime has destroyed more than 3,000 villages and displaced over half-a-million civilians in eastern Burma, according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an umbrella organization responsible for the distribution of aid at the Thai-Burmese border.
Most villagers head to churches in the area but investigations by the Burmese authorities make them flee in terror, claims Mai Ja of the Kachin Women's Association Thailand, one of the groups engaged in relief efforts near the Sino-Burmese border.
Recently, international and regional human rights groups – including the International Federation for Human Rights, Altsean-Burma and Burma Lawyers' Council – urged the European Union to support the establishment of a UN Security Council Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Burma.
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