Fighting in Burma between ethnic rebels and government troops rumbled on for a third day today as activists warned that the violence, which has sparked a refugee exodus from the country, could escalate in the aftermath of contentious elections.
Clashes at key points along the Thai-Burma border since Sunday have forced some 20,000 villagers into Thailand, which already shelters a quarter of a million ethnic minority refugees fleeing brutal campaigns by the Burmese army.
The exodus underlined Burma's vulnerability to unrest following the country's first election in two decades on Sunday, which was billed by the ruling military junta as a key stage in its road to democracy. Its political opponents and western nations have decried the poll as unfair and repressive.
President Barack Obama said it was unacceptable for Burma's government to "steal an election" and hold the people's aspirations hostage to the regime's greed and paranoia. The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said the voting was not inclusive enough and lacked transparency.
For the third consecutive day, sporadic gunfire erupted in the key border town of Myawaddy. Refugees told Thai officials, however, that government forces had retaken the town. Gunfire continued further south at the Three Pagoda pass.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said some 20,000 refugees had fled into Thailand and authorities would not send them home until it was safe. He said Thai forces had strengthened security at the border.
By midday Thai border officials declared that the northern area of Myawaddy was safe, and hundreds of refugees began returning home. Thousands more stayed put in the Thai town of Mae Sot, just across the river from Myawaddy.
The area around Mae Sot is already home to 150,000 ethnic Karen refugees scattered in camps that were first established in the 1980s.
The UN and human rights groups have detailed killings, rape, torture, forced labour and burning of villages in Burma as the regime attempts to deny rebels support from the civilian population.
Burma has been ruled by the military almost continuously since 1962, and rebellions by its ethnic minorities predate its independence from Britain in 1948.
Sunday's election was the first in Burma since a 1990 vote won by the party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's, who was barred from taking power and boycotted the new poll. The regime says the election heralds a transition to civilian rule, but junta-backed candidates are virtually certain to dominate the new parliament.
Several human rights groups warned of civil war as ethnic groups are pressured by the government to accept a new constitution that offers them little autonomy. Several groups that field potent guerrilla armies refused to take part in the election.
"If the dictatorship goes ahead with plans to attack all armed groups refusing to surrender, today's fighting will be the equivalent of a first small skirmish," said the Burma Campaign UK in a statement.
Only a few results from Sunday's election have been announced, and figures on voter turnout from the election have yet to emerge. State media and the Election Commission reported that 40 junta-backed candidates won their races for mostly uncontested seats.
The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development party was certain to win an overwhelming number of seats. It fielded 1,112 candidates for the 1,159 seats in the two-house national parliament and 14 regional parliaments. The largest anti-government party, the National Democratic Force, contested just 164 seats.
The constitution sets aside 25% of parliamentary seats for military appointees.
The NDF said provisional returns it had collected showed it winning 15 seats.
NDF chief Khin Maung Swe accused the USDP of using every possible method to steal the vote, and said it was "sure to win 90% if they continue to cheat in such manner".
The NDF is led by breakaway members of the former National League for Democracy of detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been locked up in her Yangon villa on and off since 1989. The party was disbanded this year after declining to register.
Aung San Suu Kyi's term of house arrest is supposed to expire on Saturday although the junta has kept silent over whether it will grant her freedom.
