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From Our Own Correspondent

Caught in the crossfire along the Thailand/Myanmar border

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.41.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

: Laura Bicker reports from a remote corner of Thailand’s border with Myanmar, where villagers’ lives are being disrupted as the Burmese military pursues insurgent groups. Since the generals' takeover in February, hundreds of people have died in Myanmar's cities after mass protests. In rural areas, several rebel militias – most formed by ethnic minorities – which have been resisting the military for decades are renewing their fight. Last weekend the diversion of a Ryanair flight to Minsk in Belarus – though it was meant to be going to Lithuania – caused generalised outrage. After an alleged bomb threat, the plane had to land straight away. But it seems the real target on board was a young critic of the Belarusian government, James Landale analyses the shock felt across Europe as other countries judge how to respond. After Idriss Deby, Chad's longtime head of state, was reportedly killed in battle in April, many hoped his death might offer a chance to hold free and fair elections. Instead Mr Déby’s son, a general, now rules the country. Activists fear that their window for change might soon slam shut. In N'Djamena, Mayeni Jones found those in power don’t always share the priorities of ordinary Chadians. In recent days, several thousand migrants crossed from Morocco into the Spanish city of Ceuta. It's happened before but the numbers this time were unprecedented. Guy Hedgecoe reflects on the backdrop to this incident and complex history binding Spain and Morocco. As Chileans’ household budgets have grown tighter, they’ve also grown more worried about their country’s once-emblematic pension system. Now a new breed of politician is seizing the limelight by suggesting voters should just go ahead and raid the kitty, says Jane Chambers in Santiago. Producer: Polly Hope

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts

0:05.1

Today, with holiday air travel, just within reach for many again,

0:09.8

piracy at 40,000 feet has ignited international uproar.

0:15.1

The trappings of power to be discerned in Chad,

0:18.3

we glimpse gilded coffee pots and a fatigue-spence account.

0:22.6

We hear of the history behind Spain's African enclave

0:26.6

following a surge of migrant arrivals.

0:29.6

And what kind of a future for Chile, a so-called outsider politicians,

0:34.0

encourage citizens to raid their pension pots.

0:38.4

First to Thailand, and its border with Myanmar,

0:42.0

where continuing violence by the Burmese military is disrupting

0:45.8

village's lives. Since the armies take over earlier this year,

0:50.2

hundreds have died as state security forces have confronted and pursued

0:54.7

protesters in its cities. Many of the dead have been young

1:00.0

taking to the streets for the first time with few weapons or ways to resist

1:04.1

the armed forces. But in Myanmar's rural areas,

1:08.1

there are several rebel groups, mostly from ethnic minorities,

1:12.7

who for decades have been resisting the military,

1:15.6

and some of the new protesters have now taken refuge with them.

1:20.0

Laura Bicca has been seeing the effects of the military's renewed campaign

1:24.4

on the border. 26-year-old baby should be teaching a class

1:28.8

full of children in her village in the mountains of eastern Myanmar.

...

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