Thailand says deliveries of humanitarian aid to war-wracked Myanmar are expected to start soon

MAE SOT, Thailand — Thailand expects to open up a humanitarian corridor in about a month to deliver aid to suffering civilians in war-torn Myanmar, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said Thursday after inspecting the planned staging area in the northern Thai province of Tak. “We have long been calling for a program of direct cross-border humanitarian assistance to the refugees and civilians truly in need of help,” said Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, the leading political body of the anti-military resistance. Speaking last month at the Diplomacy Dialogue on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, he said that with no end in sight to Myanmar’s conflict, “The fear among the regional countries is Myanmar becoming increasingly fragmented and becoming an arena for major-power competition.” As Myanmar’s eastern neighbor, Thailand especially fears an influx of refugees. He said Thailand hopes its aid plan “will be the building block for constructive dialogue and engagement within Myanmar and between Myanmar and the international community as the process goes forward.” An aid worker in Mae Sot who has been involved for about a decade in humanitarian activities involving displaced people in Myanmar’s Kayin state, where the project will be implemented, described what he knows so far about the plan as a good initiative but far too limited, given huge numbers of displaced people across Myanmar.