Month: October 2013

The 28th of October marked the second anniversary of the abduction of Sumlut Roi Ja, an ethnic Kachin woman, by members of Burma’s Army. She is still missing. Burma Army soldiers arrested Sumlut Roi Ja, a 28-year-old mother, on October 28th 2011 while she was working on the family’s farm near her village Hkai Bang, close to the China border.…

Grave concerns over government plans to build six hydroelectric dams on the Salween River. The dam projects would be used to sell hydropower to Burma’s neighbors, China and Thailand. The planned dams lie in ethnic conflict zones where the critical issue of control over natural resources remains unresolved. Members of Burma’s Rivers Network (BRN) including the Karen Rivers Watch, Shan…

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has told a prominent UK based Burma pro-rights group that the British Government continues to receive “deeply troubling” reports of the use of sexual violence in Burma’s conflict zones. The letter, addressed to Burma Campaign UK, was written in response to thousands of letters calling for action to end sexual violence in Burma, that were…

A report launched this week by the Burma News International highlighted the impact of business on the country’s fragile peace process. The report – Economics of Peace and Conflict – details how economic engagement trends connected to the peace process “have already caused serious negative impacts on local communities and may threat the durability of peace agreements.” Burma News International…

The Karen National Union’s outspoken General Baw Kyaw stresses that he wants ethnic people to work together for the equality of all the people of Burma. General Baw Kyaw Heh, the Karen National Liberation Army’s vice-chief-of-staff said he overwhelmingly supported the Ethnic Nationalities Summit to be held in Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization. “I am hopeful that…

A series of bomb blasts in Burma in late October has raised concerns over the fragile security situation in Burma. The government alleged that individuals with links to the Karen National Union were responsible for the bomb attacks. On October 25, the KNU called an emergency meeting of its executive members that resulted in a seven-member investigation team set up…

Karen communities urge the Karen National Union (KNU) to push the Burmese government to allow their native language to be taught in schools. Community leaders and elders said Karen villages in the government control area want the right to teach their native language. At a recent meeting in the KNU’s Mergui-Tavoy district, in Southern Burma, villager representatives encouraged its political…

The Karen National Union (KNU) in Southern Burma has suspended a coalmine from operating in the Pawklo area, east of Dawei. The KNU stopped the mine after listening to the demands local villagers made to the political organisations district leaders. The KNU Mergui-Tavoy District 16th Congress that finished on the 19 October decided that the coal mine in Tha Nay…

The arrest of two Karen soldiers by the government’s military has added to tension created by a series of recent bomb explosions in Burma. The two arrested Karen National Liberation Army soldiers have just been released after being detained by the Burma Army for nine days said that there is a need for clear guidelines on how both sides operate…

A Karen National Union District Office in a statement received by Karen News has lashed out at the perpetrators of the recent series of bomb blasts in Burma that have injured innocent civilians. The KNU Muthraw District underlined in its statement called the bomb blasts ‘disturbing’ and criticized the Burma’s government for suggesting that those responsible for the explosions had…