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Bangkok Post (6/5/98): As many as 2



As many as 200,000 Karen ' left homeless by conflicts'

Up to two hundred thousand of ethnic Karen people have fled Burma's
internecine battles and the government's forced-relocation plans, a report
by an opposition-affiliated group said yesterday.
The report by the Burma Ethnic Research Group said between 100,000 and
200,000 displaced Karenni people had been forgotten despite being the
victims of ongoing fighting between Burmese government troops and ethnic
Karen opposition force.
" Force relocation is clearly practised widely by the Burmese government
and reflects policy at the highest level," said the report, obtained by the
Bangkok Post.
Some 90,000 Karen refugees are in camps inside Thailand, and the Thai
government plans to move the camps further into the interior for security
reasons following raids by the Democratic Karen Buddhist's Army, which is
supported by Rangoon's military regime.
The report cited concern about insufficient aid to the displaced Karen from
the international community, calling it the result of the Burmese
government denies that the problem exists and denies access to those
displaced," it said.
Including both the groups in Thailand and those displace within Burma
itself, the Burma Ethnic Research Group said at  least 30 percent of the
entire Karen population was homeless.