A caring act for Myanmar’s innocent

Three years ago – before the wars in Gaza and Ukraine – the world watched as a military coup in Myanmar triggered a violent civil war that has left more than a third of the population in need of assistance. On March 25, one of the country’s neighbors finally did something tangible to relieve the suffering and, perhaps, open a door for peace.

Thailand sent trucks of food and other essentials across the border to Myanmar’s Red Cross to help 20,000 displaced people. The aid delivery, one of many to come, was a small step and somewhat controversial. It remains uncertain if the supplies will be diverted by the ruling junta. Despite that possibility, Thailand’s move is a signal of a rising concern for innocent people in one of the world’s worst conflicts as well as for the need to keep Myanmar from splitting apart.

The plan for the aid shipments is “about paving the way for Myanmar to once again reengage and engage constructively with the international community,” Thai Vice Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told Reuters.

Large parts of Myanmar are out of the military’s control after recent battlefield advances by various rebel groups, such as one that includes the remnants of the elected government ousted in 2021. Also, the junta has further alienated its political base, the majority Burman ethnic group, with a new effort to draft at least 60,000 young men and women into the army over the next year. Thailand is now worried about a surge of asylum-seekers. Many in the Myanmar military have already defected across the border.

The Thais have shifted their thinking on the war. A recent election, in which voters favored the progressive Move Forward Party, has led to a new government in Bangkok trying a different approach toward ending war next door. Or as the Thai vice foreign minister said during the first aid delivery, “We want every side, all sides, to overcome their differences so that we can be led to reconciliation and peace in the near future.”