Fire on the River

March 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese military scorches border island – Maung Too

Burmese military troops set fire to an island in the Thaung Yin river
between Burma and Thailand yesterday, clearing huts built by illegal
settlers, locals said.

The mid-river island is located between the Burmese town of Myawaddy in
Karen state and Thailand's Mae Sot district.

A Myawaddy resident who watched the scorching of the island said Burmese
army soldiers, accompanied by the township police, burnt down huts built
by illegal settlers on the island at around 7am yesterday.

"The Burmese military personnel and the police went on to the island at
around 7am and cleared it by burning down the huts," said the Myawaddy
resident.

"They did not give any advance warning of the clearing to the settlers on
the island."

The small island, which occasionally provokes argument between Thai and
Burmese authorities because of questions over its ownership, is inhabited
for much of the year by smugglers of drugs and other illegal goods.

Sources from Mae Sot said that Thai officials went to the island after it
was cleared yesterday to check on its status, but that the Burmese
military’s actions did not seem to have caused any tension between the
authorities of the two countries.