Ceasefire

Reports of rape and the murder of two civilians have emerged following a Burma Army offensive in parts of Kachin State and Shan State, that has also led to more than three thousand civilians displaced in the attacks. The frontline humanitarian organisation, Free Burma Rangers, allege that on April 10, Burma Army soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) raped a…

The Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) selected its nine-member delegation team to draft a nationwide ceasefire agreement together with a government team. The NCCT, a technical team working on the nationwide ceasefire agreement on behalf of the ethnic armed resistance organizations previously agreed in its last meeting with the government’s Union Peacemaking Work Committee in Rangoon, to form a joint…

General Baw Kyaw Heh, the Karen National Liberation Army’s vice-chief-of-staff, in an exclusive question and answer interview with Karen News discussed the consequences of mega- development projects, hydro-dams, armed conflict, corruption, the current ceasefire, peace talks and the militarization of Burma. Why are you opposed to a dam? Many reasons – too many dams bring too many problems, costs and…

The government’s Union Peacemaking Working Committee (UPWC) and the ethnic armed groups’, National Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), agreed during their last meeting to draft a single nationwide ceasefire agreement. After a two-day meeting, held on the 9th and 10th of March, 2014, representatives of UPWC and the NCCT agreed to form a working committee composed of people from both groups…

Mu The village is in a tight spot. Not only is it in Karen National Union-held territory abutting Burmese government-controlled territory, but it is geographically remote as well. Virtually no outside aid made its way in during the long-running civil war that has only compounded the village’s isolation. This situation changed abruptly in August 2012, when a single truck laden…

In a show of unity and strength, representatives from 17-armed resistance groups met in Karen State in January for five days to discuss a nationwide ceasefire agreement for Burma. The ethnic armed groups met at Law Khee Lar in Karen State and hailed the conference as a success. The ethnic armed group, under its working title, the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination…

Even as Burma opens up to the world under President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government, serious human rights abuses continue to occur, including sexual violence, extra-judicial killings and illegal arrest, says rights groups. On the first day of May 2012, ‘Ngwa Mi’ (not her real name), 48, hid alone in a church in the Kachin Town of Pang Wa, on…

A line of soldiers adorned in flowered garlands threaded their way across the Karen National Defence Organisation’s parade ground in Karen State. The parade on the last day of January ushered in the first year that members of three Karen armed groups celebrated Karen Revolution Day together. Members of the Karen National Union, the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, and the…

General Ner Dah Mya, head of the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) has called for Burma’s government to “show sincerity” and commit to a ‘sincere peace’ process. General Ner Dah has just presented a speech at a KNDO base in southern Karen State, honoring the efforts of the Karen in their 64-year-long struggle with Burma’s military regime. Walking over, he…

In a show of unity and strength representatives from 17 armed resistance groups met in Karen State to discuss a nationwide ceasefire agreement for Burma. The ethnic armed groups released a statement claiming the conference that ran over five days from 20 to 25 January and held at Law Khee Lar, Karen State was a success. The ethnic armed group…