IOM yesterday deployed trucks and pickups at the request of the
Thai army to help thousands of refugees fleeing across the border
into the Thai border town of Mae Sot to escape fighting in
neighbouring Myanmar.

The fighting between the Myanmar military and an ethnic minority
armed group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), following
the Myanmar elections on Sunday, resulted in an estimated 12,000
people fleeing into Thailand at the Mae Sot and Three Pagoda Pass
border crossing points.

In Mae Sot IOM yesterday transported some 5,000 people from the
Thai side of the Moei River to a safe former military compound
designated by the Thai authorities. All the refugees came from the
town of Miwaddy on the Myanmar side of the river.

The Thai authorities, Mae Sot residents and local and
international NGOs are providing food, water, blankets and medical
aid to the refugees, with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) coordinating the relief effort.  IOM set up a small
clinic close to the compound to treat the injured.

IOM has offered to accommodate up to 300 of the most vulnerable
refugees in its 2000-capacity refugee resettlement processing
centre in Mae Sot, if the refugees are unable to return home in the
immediate future.

For more information please contact:

Chris Lom

IOM Bangkok

E-mail: "mailto:clom@iom.int">clom@iom.int

Tel: +66.819275215