Bangkok: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has called on all parties in Myanmar to find a peaceful solution to the domestic ethnic conflict that has begun spilling over the border.
Skirmishes on the Thai-Myanmar border in Tak are having a negative impact on the country and endangering residents, Tanee Sangrat, a spokesman for the MFA and director-general of its Department of Information, said.
Thailand has urged the parties involved to tackle the situation as quickly as possible through peaceful negotiations. Authorities have been working with residents in Tak to provide assistance to Myanmar refugees on humanitarian grounds, Mr Tanee said.
Thailand also supports the efforts being made by Brunei and Cambodia to help Myanmar resolve the crisis, he said.
The Thai army has not been coordinating with troops in the neighbouring country or attempting to persuade them to leave a border area where fighting has been ongoing with a local minority group that opposes the junta, officials said. Naresuan task force chief Maj Gen Prasan Saengsirirak described this as Myanmar’s affair.
However, Thai authorities have warned the Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar armed forces are known, about its use of weaponry to ensure these clashes do not continue to spill over into Thai territory, Maj Gen Prasan added.
Officials said the situation in Myanmar’s Myawaddy province near the border has begun to ease in the wake of exchanges of gunfire in the preceding 24 hours. The Bangkok Post
