25 thousand Myanmar refugees cross bolder to seek refuge in China

The number of the refugees from Myanmar has increased dramatically in recent days, according to a staff member of an aid organization in China.The refugees were driven to flee to the area of Yunan Province, China, due to the armed conflict between the government’s military and the most powerful rebellious group in Myanmar.Reportedly, over 40 thousand refugees have flooded to the bolder area and 25 thousand have passed across the bolder to seek for refuge in China. And many of the refugees are women, children and elderly people.

Some groups of them lived in the temporary camps, and some others found the shelters to sleep in the schools and villages in both sides of the bolder, while over 1000 were wondering in the forest.The problem has caused a humanitarian crisis, as well as a diplomatic dilemma to Chinese government.Myanmar has a population of near 60 million people. Bamar is the biggest ethnic group in the country accounting for 2/3 of the population, and other ethnic minorities, such as Shan, Karen, and Kachin take the rest. The fighting between the government and the ethnic militias (the Kachin Independence Army) erupted after the 17-year-long ceasefire finally broke out last June.In this January, Myanmar’s military reached a preliminary ceasefire agreement with the Kachin Independence Army, but both sides showed no sign of withdrawing the troops, which means refugees are still unable to return back home.