- Title: CHINA: Myanmar refugees weigh risks of returning home from China
- Date: 1st September 2009
- Summary: REFUGEES WALKING
- Embargoed: 16th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVACMG2BOLIA225Z5CSFC8N2ECW5
- Story Text: Myanmar refugees wait for situation to stabilise before deciding to return home from China as the government forces take control of their hometown.
Refugees who fled to China from armed clashes in northeast Myanmar are weighing a return to farms, homes and shops against fear of the Myanmar army, while both governments sought to play up a return to normality.
By Monday (August 31), Myanmar troops appeared to have won control of Kokang, a heavily ethnic Chinese enclave controlled by local rulers and their militia, after weeks of fighting that forced tens of thousands of residents to flee to neighbouring China.
The Chinese government has fed and sheltered 13,000 of the 37,000 refugees in Nansan and other towns near the border, according to provincial figures, but has shown no eagerness to host them for long.
Already Chinese officials and state media have said Kokang natives could start returning home.
But many of the refugees, hunkered down in blue tents, said they felt torn between a desire to return to family, businesses and homes and fear of ill-treatment by Myanmar government troops.
"No, I don't want to go back now. I am not sure of the situation at my home. I am afraid of the Myanmar military. I heard all my things have been taken by them," said 45-year-old Myanmar refugee Sang Er.
China's public security chief Meng Jianzhu has gone to the border to ensure stability there, the official People's Daily said late on Sunday (August 30), while Chinese journalists said their papers had been told not to publish independent reports on the issue.
Beijing is one of Myanmar's few diplomatic backers and has deflected pressure from Western governments over the military government's tough steps against pro-democracy campaigners.
Keeping large numbers of the refugees, who include members of the defeated Kokang militia, could rile Myanmar.
"I have to see how I feel about it. I will see whether everyone else would (go back), if they do so, I will follow. This is my thinking," said Zhou Lifang, a 30-year-old native of Kokang who had fled to Nansan.
Kokang has long served as a freewheeling buffer zone between China and Myanmar, and drug trafficking and gambling have long underpinned the enclave's economy. Most of its predominantly ethnic Chinese residents can speak Mandarin.
China will be keen to see the displaced Myanmar residents head home and it has even avoided calling them refugees.
The local government has provided food, water, medical services and electricity at the refugee camps.
"Now what we are providing is first a place for them to stay. The conditions are not good but at least they have a place to stay. Next, the government is providing them two proper meals a day and we are also giving them clothes to wear. And now, we have also added drinking water and electricity points to this place," said Yan Qitian, Director of Nansan refugee relief center.
At the border crossing, Chinese guards were allowing Myanmar citizens to cross back, but barring Chinese citizens.
Dozens of people hung around on the Chinese side, waiting for relatives to turn up.
The Myanmar government said on Sunday the situation had returned to normal, adding that 26 government troops or police had been killed and 47 wounded. Eight members of the armed Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army were killed, it said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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