Myanmar ophans flee to uncertain refuge in Thailand

[Coventina]

Source: AFP

THA SONG YANG, Thailand (AFP) — A sudden offensive against ethnic Karen rebels by Myanmar's military junta has caused what aid groups say is the biggest exodus of refugees from Myanmar since 1997, with some 4,000 people fleeing for safety since the start of June.

Just weeks ago the group of 96 destitute orphans fled their children's home in Myanmar to the sound of mortar shells and crossed into Thailand.

With camps in Thailand already home to 135,000 refugees from the six-decade conflict between mainly-Buddhist Myanmar's junta and the Christian Karen, soliders bundled the new arrivals into the Safe Haven orphanage in this frontier village.

Thai orphanage boss Tasanee Keereepraneed watches over children from Myanmar tending to toddlers not much younger than themselves -- refugees from one of the world's longest conflicts.



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