Articles

Medics in southern Burma said that they do not have enough medicine to treat a diarrhea epidemic that has swept through a Karen village. Medics for the Karen National Union said that as many as 40 villagers from K’neh Kaw (Pya Tha Chaung) in Dawei Township, in Sothern Burma are sick and needed emergency treatment. A Karen medic working in…

Japan joined a meeting between Thailand and Burma to discuss how to kick-start the Dawei $60 billion mega project in southern Burma. It was the first time the three countries had met to discuss Japan’s role as a potential investor in the massive Dawei project that includes, a deep-sea port, industrial zone, rail and road links to Thailand, power plants…

Monks and residents from Hpa-an protest against the destruction of the town’s historic football ground to make way for the construction of a hotel and shopping mall. As many as 500 monks gathered on Friday, September 27, at the Hpa-an Maebaung Monastery to demonstrated against the building of the hotel and shopping mall on Myoma Football ground. The Myoma football…

A woman from Mae La refugee camp on the Thai Burma border was found dead in suspicious circumstances in close proximity to the camp. Camp officials confirmed that a woman refugee was found dead in a nearby forest close to Zone-C, of the Mae La refugee camp in Tak Province. The Mae La Camp’s chairman, Saw Honest, told Karen News…

Burma’s refusal to sign a declaration against sexual violence comes despite pressure from the British government. The declaration of commitment to end sexual violence in conflict was launched by the British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Zainab Hawa Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, at the United Nations in New York. On Tuesday 24th September…

A reduction in funding from international donors will see many of the tens of thousands of refugees living on the Thai Burma border getting less food to eat. In a media statement released on the 18 September, The Border Consortium, who is responsible for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the 129,787 refugees from Burma now living in Thailand, said.…

Monks and a Malaysian construction plan to install a cable car on Karen State’s famous and symbolic, Zwekabin Mountain. A Pagoda at the top of Zwekabin Mountain, near Hpa-an Town, is visited each day by hundreds of Buddhists pilgrims and tourists who make the arduous three to four hour trek each day. The cable car project organizing committee said that…

The leaders of four different Karen political parties met over two days to discuss how to merge their organisations into one for Burma’s next general election in 2015. In an effort to merge the parties, leaders of the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, the Karen People’s Party, the Karen State Democracy and Development Party, and the Karen Democratic Party – all which…

Yesterday more than a 100 young men and women helped the Mergui-Tavoy District branch of the Karen Women’s Organization celebrated the International Day of Peace at their jungle office in Southern Burma. The KWO embraced the slogan ‘Peace begins in the family and spreads to the world.’ P’doh Naw May Ro Paw, secretary of KWO Mergui-Tavoy District said. “This is…

Farmers have demanded compensation for their land confiscated and for losses of land to mining and a cement factory in Hlakar village track, in Hpa-an, Karen State. The Hlakar farmers held a meeting in the village on September 12 that decided to present their five-point demands through the Member of Parliament, Daw Nan Say Awa, from the Phalon Swaw Democratic…