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FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
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INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0540
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0013
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 0005
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0020
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI

C O N F I D E N T I A L CHIANG MAI 000101 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  6/6/2017 
TAGS: PREF PHUM PINS PGOV TH BM
SUBJECT: ANOTHER SHAN REFUGEE SETTLEMENT CAUGHT IN NO-MAN'S LAND 
 
REF: A. 06 CHIANG MAI 59, B. 05 CHIANG MAI 245 AND PREVIOUS 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: John Spykerman, Con/Pol Officer, Consulate 
General Chiang Mai, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
 
¶1. (U) Human rights organizations have protested that a Royal 
Thai Army unit last month forced villagers fleeing unrest in 
Shan State to move from a settlement within sight of the Thai 
border to a location further inside Burma. Several Shan NGOs 
based in northern Thailand wrote to Thai Prime Minister Surayud 
Chulanont that this move puts the villagers at greater risk of 
violence from fighting among the Shan State Army-South and Burma 
Army, and the latter's ceasefire allies, the United Wa State 
Army (UWSA). 
 
¶2. (C) Amid several versions of the events circulating in the 
media and among Shan watchers, RTG officials have countered that 
the temporary settlement of almost 100 villagers just 200 meters 
from the Thai border -- in an area that still has many pockets 
of disputed border demarcations -- could have eventually spilled 
over into Thailand and lead the Burmese junta to make claims on 
Thai territory. An RTA source also worried that the original 
location would have placed villagers in the way of RTG drug 
interdiction efforts against the UWSA. The RTG said it worked 
with villagers to re-locate them to a larger settlement of 
displaced persons a few hundred meters further inside Burma. 
Shan activists say the move was done by force, with RTA troops 
arriving at the end of May to dismantle shelters, and puts the 
villagers in a less-desirable position more vulnerable to 
fighting and landslides. 
 
¶3. (C) The dispute mirrors other recent problems faced by ethnic 
Shan fleeing violence in Burma (reftels). Unlike ethnic Karen or 
Karenni victims of Burma's instability, Shan are denied refugee 
status in Thailand. The RTG has long sought to discourage Shan 
-- close ethnic cousins of the Thai and thus easily able to 
blend into Thai society and find work as illegal laborers -- 
from crossing into Thailand, even though hundreds do every week. 
Thai officials have blocked organizations such as the United 
Nations High Commission on Refugees from engaging Shan, leaving 
thousands to live in de facto statelesness while Shan NGOs work 
quietly with other relief organizations to provide assistance on 
both sides of the border. 
 
¶4. (C) The RTG's Shan anxiety has led to similar attempts to 
re-locate other settlements. In most instances, the RTG has 
eventually relented or reached compromises with villagers after 
heavy lobbying from Shan activists. Shan Women's Action Network 
leaders told PolOff they view last month's RTA move inside Burma 
to dictate the location of Shan villages as part of an increased 
frustration by the RTG and its military leaders over illegal 
immigration. RTG contacts, for their part, say they see the Shan 
NGOs' uproar as a continuation of a larger campaign to draw 
attention to the legal limbo and humanitarian predicament faced 
by hundreds of thousands of Shan refugees and migrant workers in 
Thailand. 
 
CAMP