Burmese minorities hemmed in by landmines
Since Novemebr 2005, conflict between the Burmese military and the Karen ethnic minority insurgents has resulted in the displacement of over 10,000 Karen civilians in Burma. Now it has been revealed that the Burmese army is planting landmines along the Thai/Burma border in order to block Karen refugees from fleeing the conflict. There are already more than 2 million Karen refugees in Thailand. Huamn rights groups have called for the the United Nations to apoint a commission of inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity that ahve occurred since the Burmese government took power in 1988. The Wire spoke to Dr Myint Cho, Union Aid Abroad’s director of the Burma Office in Sydney, who has worked in the refugee camps along the Thai/Burma border.