April 11, 2024
NAYPYIDAW – In order to establish a demilitarized zone for Myawady on the Myanmar-Thailand border, more than 500 people, including war refugees and locals of Myawady, staged a protest at Ward No. 1 soccer field in Myawady on the evening of April 9.
Due to the fighting that started on March 7 in Thingan Nyinaung area, where the military operation command and military bases are located, north of Myawady, more than 3,000 people have come to seek refuge in Myawady town to escape the war.
Due to the fighting between the two sides, a protester said that if the two sides fight again in the town of Myawady, where the people fleeing the war from Kawkareik, Thingan Nyinaung, Maeplae, Waveshan, Shwe Mya Sandi, and Mekanal are taking refuge in nearly 20 refugee camps in Myawady, there will be no place to run and no people to donate food.
It is said that because they are worried about the occurrence of fighting in Myawady town, they are asking for leniency to establish a demilitarized zone and to prevent people from losing their lives and belongings.
A woman who fled the war from Kawkareik to Myawady town said, “Our town has been reduced to ashes. We have no house to live in. That’s why we came to the relative lived in Myawady to flee from the war. Now, if Myawady will happen like Kawkareik and Thingan Nyinaung, we have no place to run to. Therefore, we are appealing to both sides not to fight in Myawady. We are not protesting, we are pleading that all the people do not suffer.”
There are more than 3,000 people who have fled the war from Kawkareik, Thingan Nyinaung, Maeplae, Waveshan, Shwe Mya Sandi, and Mekanal Village in Myawady City, and they are currently facing difficulties in getting food.