After they heard from rangers guarding the Nong Bua temporary shelter that refugees would be relocated to another temporary shelter at Usutha on 8 March, 29 refugee families have fled the shelter.

To the Thai people, via Cross-border News Agency,

Since 24/01/10 that the Cross-border News Agency started to circulate information relating to the coerced repatriation of Karen refugees in Nong Bua and Usu Tha temporary shelter on the Thai-Burma border to the Thai public, our stories have been discussed more in Thai media.  From news and reports being monitored, we found that in fact, the Thai PM and authorities including Thai military have the very same stand with us; that is 'refugees will be allowed in Thailand when there are still threats in their homeland.  When the situation is better, they must go back.'

‘They say we go, we have to go.  They say we stay, we have to stay, whether here, in Loepohoe or in Mae La (refugee camp).’  This is what Nomaele told me last September.

Nomaele is a plump woman, aged beyond her years by hard work.  Every time we met I mistakenly called her ‘auntie’ although she is only 35.  Her family and 2 others, 12 people in all, were sent across the Moei River to her home in Loepohoe at 8 in the morning of 5 February.

Thai police and soldiers conducted a surprise raid on the Karen Information Centre (KIC) based in the Thai border town of Mae Sot on 4 February 2010.

(February 5th, 2010) KWO is again very concerned about the forced repatriation done by the Thai authority in Nong Bua refugee camp. 3 families with a total of 13 people, 9 of them are women and the rest are children, including 9 month old breastfeeding baby were forced to go back to Burma today.

The Thai government has decided to put on hold its plan to send back the Karen refugees to the landmined Burmese soil, probably due to much pressure from international community. Here are interviews with the refugees by the Karen Human Rights Group on why they do not wish to be 'voluntarily repatriated' by the Thai Government.

The Karen Women Organization is urgently appealing to the Royal Thai Government not to forcibly repatriate over 3,000 Karen refugees staying in Tha Song Yang, Tak Province, back to a heavily land-mined war-zone in Burma. The majority of the refugees are women and children.