MAE HONG SON — The chief of Mae Sam Laep tambon administrative organisation has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, calling for a proposed 10km safety zone and humanitarian corridor along the Thai–Myanmar border to protect communities from fighting.
Pongpipat Meebrnjamart, whose tambon is in Sop Moei district, said on Nov 3, 2026 that he had addressed the letter to the government and prime minister because the conflict in Myanmar was affecting Thailand.
He said continuing, indiscriminate Myanmar military operations, including air strikes, had affected Thai residents on several occasions.
Mr Pongpipat urged the Thai government to coordinate with the Myanmar military to secure an immediate halt to all forms of aerial attack along the border, saying their cross-border effects had repeatedly disrupted residents’ lives and livelihoods.
He also called for the establishment of a safety zone and humanitarian corridor extending 10 kilometres from the border.
“Establishing such a zone and agreement would reduce the impact on Thai border communities, human rights violations and displacement within this 10km area,” he said.
“It would allow communities to live safely without compromising military operations, the safety of Thai citizens or national security.”
Mr Pongpipat urged the government to pursue the proposal through multilateral mechanisms, including ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus and its special envoy, referring to safety-zone discussions already held with Myanmar.
Assoc Prof Dr Dulyapak Preecharush, a lecturer in Southeast Asian studies at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Liberal Arts, said the proposal could be useful in the medium to long term but faced immediate constraints.
Fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups was continuing, he said, and the military was likely to keep using air power to support ground operations.
Nevertheless, he supported keeping heavy weapons and warplanes at a safe distance from civilians, saying the proposal could create an extensive peace zone spanning both sides of the border and allow residents to live without fear.
“This idea would be useful because it would create a large peace park straddling the Thai–Myanmar border. People should be able to live without fear,” he said.
He said heavy weapons capable of harming Thai civilians, including Myanmar military aircraft such as MiG-29 fighters, should be kept at a safe distance.
Assoc Prof Dulyapak called for more serious efforts to establish the Salween basin as an area of peace and build cooperation among the various parties in the area, even if the Myanmar military remained unwilling to cooperate in the short term.
This is a translation of original Thai news article