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The Karen River Watch, a coalition of Karen environmental community based groups raise concerns over the proposed hydropower dam projects on the Salween River and repeated their call for a halt to all development projects. Together with local villagers, KRW held a protest near Hat Gyi Dam, one of the proposed dam sites in Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State on March…

Fighting between government troops and soldiers from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army broke out yesterday, March 11 at around 2 pm near Kawkareik Town. DKBA sources confirmed to Karen News that the fighting was between the government’s Light Infantry Battalion 231, under its Military Operation Command 12, based at Kyaung Sha Gon and Ywa Thit villages, four miles south of…

A Karen Human Right Groups report released on March 2nd accuses the Burma Army of targeting villagers with artillery shells in Northern Karen State. KHRG allege the government’s military directed its artillery bombardment on villagers in Papun Township. The KHRG report said that Burma Army indiscriminately fired artillery shells towards where villagers in the Saw Muh Plaw village tract were…

The excitement of having a new primary school to learn in did not last long for students from Htee Klo Thaw village in Hlaingbwe Township, as their newly built school was burnt to the ground by unknown persons, just six days after its opening ceremony. The Karen Community Based Network Group, a group that coordinated the funding for the new…

Fighting broke out in Papun Township between the Karen National Liberation Army government troops on February 27 that resulted in one Karen soldier killed and one wounded. The fighting happened in territory under the control of the KNLA’s 5th Brigade. An official from Karen National Union, Padoh Saw Pha Gaw, confirmed to Karen News from Papun District that the fighting…

Ethnic communities have spent decades building vital services in the absence of government help, but there are now fears interference could result in their work being undermined. While acknowledging Myanmar needs help, Cynthia Maung is not optimistic that a $100 million (about 3.2 billion baht) agreement with the World Bank for essential health services will benefit ethnic community health organisations…

On December 22, a China-Myanmar joint venture developing a copper mine in central Myanmar announced that it had gained “broad community support” to continue the controversial project and that it would be expanding the area covered by the mine. The day ended with 56-year old Daw Khin Win shot dead and two other villagers injured as police opened fire with…

Karen people have started to make their annual pilgrimage to the Karen National Liberation Army 7th Brigade’s headquarter in Hpa-an district to commemorate the 66th Anniversary of the beginning of its resistance against the former Burma military regime. The Karen Resistance Day falls on 31st January and is celebrated every year in Karen National Union controlled territory. This year, the…

Journalist organisations joined with world leaders in expressing condemnation and shock at an attack by masked gunmen on a newspaper in Paris on Wednesday morning. The Paris newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, was attacked by two masked gunmen, named as brothers Chérif Kouachi, 32 and Said Kouachi, 34, shouting, “God is great” in Arabic yesterday. At least 11 were killed in the…

The Dawei Special Economic Zone is threatening local peoples’ way of life, according to a report by the Tavoyan Women’s Union. The DSEZ, a joint venture of Thailand and Burma, has faced controversy since it’s inception with local and international human rights organisations expressing concerns over the project’s affect on the lives of people living in the zone. According to…