A center will be established in the “humanitarian corridor” on the Myanmar-Thai border within one month to deliver aid to people displaced by fighting in Myanmar, Thai government spokesman Chai Wacharonke said on Friday.
It will deliver food and medical supplies from the Thai Red Cross Society to its counterpart in Myanmar, he told the Bangkok Post.
Deliveries will arrive via the 2nd customs checkpoint in Tak’s Mae Sot district through the Mae Sot-Myawaddy checkpoint and the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Bridge for disbursement in areas where displaced people are gathered.
Another center will also be set up on the Myanmar side of the border, in Karen State, to receive and distribute the food and medicine received from Thailand to displaced people, Chai said.
Thai Foreign Affairs Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara led a delegation of authorities to inspect a potential humanitarian zone in Mae Sot, a Thai border town opposite Karen State, on Friday.
Speaking after a briefing from local officials, Parnpree said he had received useful information regarding the suitability of the area.
He is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Monday to discuss bilateral issues with the crisis in Myanmar on the top agenda, Thai PBS World reported.
Thailand shares a more than 2,400-kilometer-long border with Myanmar.
Some of Myanmar’s established ethnic armed groups and anti-regime resistance forces have been fighting the junta since the military coup in 2021. When fighting breaks out near the border, refugees flee to the Thai side.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) proposed a peace plan for Myanmar following the coup, but the junta has failed to honor it. Known as the Five-Point Consensus, the plan includes sending humanitarian aid to Myanmar. Both Myanmar and Thailand are ASEAN members.
Thai officials first announced the plan to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced persons inside Myanmar in December last year and have been in talks with Naypyidaw to implement it.
The plan was recently endorsed by the ASEAN foreign ministers during their retreat in Luang Prabang, Laos last month. The aid operation will be overseen by the Asean Coordinating Center for Humanitarian and Disaster Management.
Since the announcement of the scheme, experts have warned that the humanitarian assistance taskforce must be strategically planned, not only to assist people in need but also to serve Thailand’s interests. Otherwise, it risks becoming another stepping stone to be exploited by the regime.
At the same time, the involvement of the junta-controlled Myanmar Red Cross Society to deliver aid also raised concerns among activists as the charity has often been misused by the military regime.
