Sunrise over a refugee camp in an obscure part of southwest China, housing thousands of refugees from Myanmar.<br/> <br />Up to 10,000 refugees have fled to China's Yunnan province from Myanmar's Kachin state, driven by fighting between Myanmar's military and powerful rebel group the Kachin Independence Army.<br/> <br />They bring tales of rape and violence from one of the world's longest running but least known conflicts - dating from Myanmar's independence from Britain in 1948.<br/> <br />This woman and her four children walked for four days to get to the border.<br/> <br />She says the military were killing, shooting and raping people in her village.<br/> <br />In this makeshift school, mothers act as teachers to almost 200 children.<br/> <br />"We couldn't bring anything with us," this distraught woman says. "It was so difficult to get into China and now there are so many living here in such terrible conditions."<br/> <br />With around two million ethnic Kachins living by the border, there are fears the exodus could continue, sparking a humanitarian crisis.<br/> <br />But China is denying the existence of the refugees - an embarrassment to a country that shares close ties with Myanmar.<br/> <br />A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman says the refugees had temporarily entered the country for safety reasons and have since returned to Myanmar.<br/> <br />The conflict is also an embarrassment to Myanmar's government which has recently introduced high profile reforms - including the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in 2010.<br/> <br />Suu Kyi is taking part in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for April.<br/> <br />At her house in Yangon, she received a recognition from UNESCO for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence - the second time she has received the award.<br/> <br />Sunita Rappai Reuters
