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Trawling through transcripts of my interviews with the late Padoh Mahn Sha, it stood out that his guidance and political intellect would be invaluable today as fighting rages between ethnic armed groups, their allies and the Burma Army and its sponsored militia’s. In November 2006, Padoh Mahn Sha explained why the Karen National Union was unwilling to surrender. “Our resolve…

I first met cartoonist Harn Lay, 15 years ago in the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai. He was then working for the Irrawaddy magazine. I was impressed by his cartoons that never failed to skewer Burma’s military regime and wanted to write a feature about him and his work. Today, the military regime still rules Burma with an iron…

Dr. Heyzer’s comments were made during an interview with Channel News Asia (CNA) on 31st January 2022, a day before the anniversary of the February 1st military coup. Dr. Heyzer’s comments were later claimed by the UN Special envoy office as a ‘misunderstanding’. On February 1st, The European Karen Network (EKN) issued a statement rejecting Dr. Heyzer’s proposal for “power…

The displaced villagers are now forced to live in makeshift plastic sheet shelters on the banks of the Moei (Thaung Yin) River that marks the border between Burma and Thailand. Many of the makeshift shelters are set up on so-called ‘no-man’s land’ – patches of gravel-beds left in the middle of the Moei River as wet season flood waters subside.…

As many as 20,000 villagers from 27 villages have been displaced in recent Burma Army offensives in Kawkareik Township. Local schools under the administration of the Kawthoolei Education and Culture Department (KECD) have been forced to close and students pushed to take exams early. Saw Gay Doh, the principal of the Pu Yay high school that had to close because…

Citing the increase in both exports and imports through the Myawaddy – Mae Sot route, the Ministry of Commerce, under the control of SAC, reported trade reached USD$705.627 million in just three and a half months, from 1 October 2021 to 14 January 2022. The report stated that the total trade value in the same period during the previous year…

By Tha Dah Soe In the wild grassland on the banks of the Moei River, that separates Thailand from Burma, clusters of small makeshift huts with plastic sheet roofing huddle under the shade of bamboo groves or tall bushes. Pick-up trucks, tractor-trucks and motorbikes are covered in dust and now parked idle in the harvested corn fields near the temporary…

Padoh Taw Nee, Head of the KNU Foreign Affairs Department explained in an earlier interview with Karen News the Burma military’s strategy against civilians in ethnic areas is to first use ground troops to bomb villages and force the people to leave. Then when KNU defends the displaced villagers, drones and or spy planes are used to locate where people…

The KNU statement was released following Burma Army shelling of villages that has now displaced an estimated 10,000 civilians this week. The KNU said the recent fighting that took place on 15th December was a result of its self-defense against “Myanmar military council’s arrest of individuals temporarily sheltering at Lay Kay Kaw, destruction of their homes, and deployment of military…

The fighting followed a Burma Army raid on Lay Kay Kaw village that is under the control of the Karen National Union. The Burma Army 560 Light Infantry Brigade led the raid and kidnapped a number of people, including an elected National League for Democracy, Member of Parliament. On Monday three Burma Army columns entered the areas from different directions…