The Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) released a statement on Saturday saying that the power cuts from Thailand into the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy, Karen State, has inflicted “suffering” upon ethnic nationality communities living along the Thai-Myanmar border, who rely on the neighbouring country for their daily “socio-economic needs.”
“The inhumane and unjust measures of cutting off electricity, fuel supplies, and essential goods have disproportionately impacted innocent civilians, creating unnecessary hardship and exacerbating their vulnerability,” stated the BGF in its press release on March 1.
Myawaddy is located 140 miles (225 km) east of the Karen State capital Hpa-An and is across the border from Mae Sot, Tak Province of Thailand. This BGF statement comes after over 7,000 foreign nationals from 29 countries have been released from cyber scam centers but have been kept at BGF-run facilities in Myawaddy since Feb. 14.
“The ongoing power outages, fuel shortages, and communication disruptions imposed by the neighboring country on Myawaddy, a Myanmar border town, have significantly hindered efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to these foreign nationals,” added the BGF in its statement.
“We provide three meals a day for each person as well as amenities. We even offer [hygiene kits] to women,” Naing Maung Zaw, the BGF spokesperson, told DVB.
Thailand cut access to electricity and fuel supplies to Myawaddy and Payathonzu townships in Karen State, as well as Tachilek Township in Shan State on Feb. 5. Payathonzu is located 133 miles (214 km) south of Myawaddy. Tachilek is located 355 miles (571 km) northeast of Myawaddy.
Among the foreign nationals reportedly rescued from cyber scam centers in Myawaddy were 4,860 Chinese, 572 Vietnamese, and 526 Indians, along with over 500 people from various countries in Africa. The BGF called on their respective embassies to repatriate these foreigners as soon as possible.
“As the rescued spend more time in our shelters, they increasingly ask when they will be returned [to their] home [countries],” said Naing Maung Zaw.
China has called on the Thai government to continue its utility ban on Myanmar cyber scam centers since it claimed that this has “delivered tangible results and [has] gained international recognition.”
Myanmar’s civilian-led parallel administration, the National Unity Government (NUG), and its Minister of Foreign Affairs Zin Mar Aung accused the military regime in Naypyidaw and its proxies of facilitating cyber scams along the Thai-Myanmar border targeting foreign countries on Feb. 15.
The regime, the pro-military BGF, and the ethnic armed group Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), have repeatedly denied any involvement in human trafficking into cyber scam centers in areas under BGF or DKBA control in Myawaddy.
The DKBA handed over 261 foreign nationals from 19 countries – believed to have been trafficked into cyber scam centers – to the Thai army on Feb. 12.
Regime media reported that 3,474 foreign nationals who had entered Myanmar illegally were detained, with 757 repatriated to their respective countries through Thailand. The remaining 2,717 foreigners have been held in detention by the regime since Jan. 30.
