Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visits the Thai Mae La refugee camp

AUNG SAN SUU KYI VISITED THAI MAE LA REFUGEE CAMP ON JUNE 2.

Democratic icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi visited the Thai Mae La refugee camp on Saturday. It was Suu Kyi’s first trip outside of Burma after spending fifteen of the last twenty-four years under house arrest. She announced her plans to visit Thailand’s largest refugee camp before attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Bangkok, last week.

Approximately 50,000 people live in Mae La, most are Karen who fled from fighting between Burmese armed forces and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).

Suu Kyi’s arrived in Bangkok last Tuesday.

The next morning she traveled to the Thai port town of Mahachai to greet over two-thousand migrant workers.

On Friday, Suu Kyi gave a speech at the WEF.

The Thai government tried to keep Suu Kyi’s visit to Mae La low profile. Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued only a handful of media passes to visit the camp. Suu Kyi wasn’t able to meet with the Karen National Union (KNU) or permitted to give a formal speech to camp residents.

The Thai military has publicly announced they want the camps closed within three-years.

The announcement comes on the heels of ceasefire discussions between Karen National Union (KNU) and Burmese government. The ceasefire would end over sixty-years of conflict in Karen state.

The situation in ethnic areas still remains unresolved. Recently Burmese armed forces have been confiscating land in Karen state.

In Kachin state, there has been daily fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and government troops, since the government broke a seventeen-year ceasefire nearly one year ago (June 9).