Mizzima
Holding true to their promise, the Thai government opened a humanitarian aid corridor, with a dozen or so loaded trucks lined up at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing this morning in a send-off ceremony.
The Reporters, a Thai media outlet, showed the trucks lined up at the customs point on the Thai-Myanmar border this morning, 25 March.
Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara visited the Mae Sot border on 8 February and promised Thailand would initiate a humanitarian corridor to deliver aid to suffering civilians in war-torn Myanmar.
The plan, initiated by Thailand with the endorsement of Myanmar and other fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is relatively small in scale and initially would reach just a tiny proportion of the 2.6 million civilians the UN estimates are displaced throughout Myanmar, AP reports.
Myanmar has been beset with conflict since the 2021 coup with the UN estimating over 18 million people are in need in total. The most vulnerable are the internally displaced people who have had to flee their homes due to fighting.
Thai officials have said they expect about 20,000 displaced people will benefit from the plan in its initial stage, according to AP. The Thai and Myanmar Red Cross societies would implement distribution, to be monitored by the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management.
