More than 800 Karen refugees are stranded on the Burmese side of the border, while hundreds more have been displaced from their villages deep inside Burma following intense fighting between rebel Karen soldiers and the military junta troops, a Karen National Union (KNU) field commander said yesterday.

"The junta dispatched 10 battalions to attack Karen villages in the Karen State. More then 1,000 people have been displaced from their home," KNU's Colonel Ner Dah said.

About 200 Karen who have managed to cross over to the Thai side are now receiving assistance from relief workers and Thai authorities in Tak province.

Some of the refugees are infected with malaria but receiving medical attention, Ner Dah said.

"The refugees stranded in Burma are, however, in dire straits," Ner Dah said.

More than 800 refugees have been left stranded on the bank of the Salween River with little protection except for a small group KNU soldiers resisting the advancing Burmese troops just kilometres away, the officer said.

Thai authorities have, however, said that the refugees would be allowed into the Kingdom if the displaced Karen were to be harmed, Ner Dah said.

"Burmese soldiers have killed at least 20 Karen villagers in this strike. Their aim is to chase the Karen out of their territory and replace them with other ethnic groups," Ner Dah said.

"They burned homes and paddy fields . . . killed cattle as part of their campaign to displace the Karen. They even kill women and children. It's genocide," Ner Dah said.

It has been reported that at least 11,000 Karen villagers have fled from their homes since Rangoon first launched the campaign in November last year.

Associated Press, quoted Jaroon Jinakan, chief of the Mae Lama Luang refugee camp, said in a recent article that more than 1,800 people were living under plastic sheets at a temporary camp near the border, waiting for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to ascertain their status.

Altogether, more than 140,000 Karen and other displaced people are living in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border.

The KNU is the largest rebel organisation, and one of the few remaining that have steadfastly refused to sign a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese government. Rangoon has come under heavy international criticism over allegations that its troops target civilians and were carrying out a campaign to displace villagers.

Onnida Aditapsatit

The Nation