The video about Kachin refugees can be seen here:
The latest report from China is here:
http://www.chinaaid.org/2012/
Refugee Crisis along the China-Burma Border Worsens
(Dehong, Yunnan―Feb. 17, 2012) In recent days, as the news of the Burmese refugee crisis has spread rapidly over the Internet, people are once again paying attention to the half-year conflict between Burmese government troops and Kachin rebel forces. The government troops’ current moves to wipe out ethnic Kachin rebels in the border regions have caused tens of thousands of refugees to swarm into China fleeing the fighting.
Attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the Kachin minority areas in the border region with China have time and again been interrupted by the outbreak of fighting. Since June 2011, the two sides have been trading fire without pause and the small skirmishes have escalated, resulting in the displacement of what the United Nations estimates to be some 60,000 refugees who have been forced to leave their homes and head north. Already, more than 25,000 of them have poured into China’s Dehong prefecture in the province of Yunnan.
According to aid workers from the local churches, the intensity of the armed clashes appears to have eased for now, but all the refugee camps lack drinking water and some refugees have come down with diarrhea, malaria and upper respiratory tract infection. The Chinese government not only is refusing to provide humanitarian aid, but is also trying to prevent refugees from crossing the border into China.
Refugee Crisis along the China-Burma Border Worsens
(Dehong, Yunnan―Feb. 17, 2012) In recent days, as the news of the Burmese refugee crisis has spread rapidly over the Internet, people are once again paying attention to the half-year conflict between Burmese government troops and Kachin rebel forces. The government troops’ current moves to wipe out ethnic Kachin rebels in the border regions have caused tens of thousands of refugees to swarm into China fleeing the fighting.
Attempts to negotiate a ceasefire between the Burmese government and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the Kachin minority areas in the border region with China have time and again been interrupted by the outbreak of fighting. Since June 2011, the two sides have been trading fire without pause and the small skirmishes have escalated, resulting in the displacement of what the United Nations estimates to be some 60,000 refugees who have been forced to leave their homes and head north. Already, more than 25,000 of them have poured into China’s Dehong prefecture in the province of Yunnan.
According to aid workers from the local churches, the intensity of the armed clashes appears to have eased for now, but all the refugee camps lack drinking water and some refugees have come down with diarrhea, malaria and upper respiratory tract infection. The Chinese government not only is refusing to provide humanitarian aid, but is also trying to prevent refugees from crossing the border into China.
