China tents dismantled as refugees return to Myanmar

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NANSAN, China (Reuters) - China dismantled temporary housing for refugees from Myanmar on Tuesday as most headed back to homes and looted shops across the border in Kokang, where the Myanmar army fought an armed militia last week.

Refugees carry their luggage as they walk to the China-Myanmar border gate at the border town of Nansan in China's Yunnan province, September 1, 2009.

About two-thirds of the refugees who had fled to the Chinese border town of Nansan had left by Tuesday, with the remainder packing and chatting while rows of blue tents were dismantled. Buses had ferried many of them to the nearby border on Monday.

China had never officially declared the Myanmar and Chinese citizens fleeing the ethnic Chinese enclave of Kokang as refugees, but had provided food, water and temporary housing to about 37,000 people.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu reiterated an earlier call for Myanmar to restore stability and protect Chinese nationals, but did not answer a question on how long remaining refugees would be allowed to stay.

"Maintaining stability is in both sides' interest and is the responsibility of both sides," she told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington was deeply concerned by the unrest.

"We urge the Burmese authorities to cease their military campaign and develop a genuine dialogue with the ethnic minority groups as well as with Burma's democratic opposition," he said.

The fighting broke out when Myanmar deployed troops to disarm ethnic insurgents. Analysts say the aim was to neutralise the threat the militias posed an election next year, the first to be held by the junta that rules the former Burma in two decades.

Many of the refugees have turned to relatives on the Chinese side of the border, while others who were returning indicated they might be back should violence flare again.

"We are afraid of the Myanmar military. I am not sure whether they will try to rule over us," said Yuan Zhishao, 41, a Myanmar citizen. "They do not know how to speak Mandarin, so we can't communicate with them. Many people share my concerns."

BORDER PATROL

By Monday, Myanmar troops had won control of Kokang, where they allied with a splinter group against the local ruling militia. Activists and observers say the junta sent in soldiers to forcibly recruit rebel fighters for an army-run border patrol force ahead of the election.

Websites affiliated with exiled ethnic groups from Myanmar indicated on Tuesday that neighbouring armed border groups were on alert and anxious to avoid a repeat of the quick victory of the Myanmar army in Kokang.

The Shan Herald reported that fighters of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which had ruled Kokang since a 1989 ceasefire, crossed into China and were disarmed by Chinese troops.

Its account follows a report by a Chinese newspaper, the Global Times, that Chinese border troops had disarmed and detained an unidentified group from Myanmar as they tried to cross the border this weekend.

Despite the apparent end to fighting, many refugees remained pessimistic about what they would find upon their return.

"My friends say there are still not many people in there and most of the shops have been ransacked, although some have been spared," said Peng Zhiqiang, 38, a Chinese businessman from Hunan, who started a clothing store in Myanmar a year ago.

"All my things are gone, so there's no point in me staying there any more. It is also not safe. Everything is gone, so I will wrap up my business there."

Chinese border guards prevented some Chinese citizens from crossing into Myanmar on Tuesday, while allowing Myanmar citizens to return with their plastic bags of belongings.