Karen refugees who fled Burma are now trying to survive in the temporary refugee shelters in Mae Usu, Thailand, just 2 kms from the border with Burma. More than 4,000 people were forced to flee from their villagers in Karen State, Burma in early June 2009 as the Burmese army and their local militia the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) launched a major military offensive against the KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) attacking and burning down villages. The refugees fled into Thailand to escape being forceably recruited to be used as porters and human minesweepers by the Burmese army. They have been granted temporary shelter on land at Mae Usu, however it is not safe for them to remain here as the fighting could break out again at any time back over the border just a mile away.

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