BANGKOK, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - More than 30,000 refugees who fled into China from Myanmar last week after an outbreak of hostilities between government forces and ethnic rebels are to return home, the Bangkok Post paper said on Tuesday.
An assault by Myanmar's army on the Kokang militia, an ethnic Chinese rebel group in Myanmar's eastern Shan state, forced thousands of people to cross the border into southwest China's Yunnan province on August 25-28, the newspaper said.
Government forces announced on Tuesday they had the situation under control, and the refugees could return to their homes in few days. However, refugees interviewed by the AFP news agency said they did not believe that calm had been restored in Kokang.
Ethnic rebels groups, operating in Myanmar's north, were formed during the civil war in 1948-1989 and fought for the country's Communist Party against the ruling junta.
