Saw Tar Ru Too, 65, an MP from the National Union Party and U Chit Tun, 60, a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), talked to reporters at the Valee Key camp on the Burmese side of the border adjacent to Tak's Phob Phra district.

Saw Tar, a native of the Karenni State, said he formerly worked for the government as a community coordinator, but that the junta had increasingly been suppressing the people, offering apologies but not taking action in response to complaints.

He said that the Burma's political situation is mired in crisis.

Before he fled for the Thai border, he was working with a non-governmental organisation assisting eight rural medical clinics. He said the government was sceptical about his work and had interrogated him while preparing to arrest him on charges of treason, which prompted him to flee.

Chit Tun said that he left Rangoon because Burmese soldiers had arrested the NLD's Rangoon province committee chairman, Aung Teng. He said he had learned that the government was also planning to arrest him, so he had fled on April 1. "I was arrested before on charges of participating in a political movement and given a sentence of 23 years, but then it was reduced to two years. If I am arrested again, the sentence would be doubled [46 years]. So I thought I had to find a way out. I would rather escape from the country and fight rather than let them arrest me," said Chit Tun.

He said he believed that the government had staged five explosions that rattled the downtown area of Rangoon on Thursday. No one was injured.

He said that he would continue to work with former Burmese politicians along the border to peacefully oppose the current leadership.