Karen State

Supporting the nuts and bolts of implementing the peace process, a local-level committee was formed with an office in Hpapun township, Karen State officially opened on August 30. This is the first local-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee to get to work. The eight-member committee includes three representatives from the government, three from ethnic armed organizations and two from the community.…

Several villages in Karen State may soon be hooked up to the electrical grid once a new sub-station comes online, according to an official from the State Electric Power Enterprise. “We are trying to distribute power to Myawady, Kawkareik, Kyondoe, Sukali and Waw Lay Myaing from the 230-kV Mawlamyine power station via the Thin Gan Nyi Naung sub-station, which is…

Around 2,000 people participated in a traditional Karen wrist tying ceremony in Kawkareik township on August 7. “This white thread tying ceremony [wrist tying ceremony] is as much a part of the Karen national character as our language, literature, customs and culture. We are holding [the ceremony] this year as a way of preserving the tradition. We will continue to…

As more cases of influenza (H1N1) are confirmed in several different locations in Burma including the former capital, Rangoon, Karen State Health Department officials have informed residents not to be overly frightened by the deadly flu. Doctor Kyaw Swar Myint, the Deputy Chief of the State Department of Public Health, made the call in a speech delivered at the World…

Schools have been closed and nearly 900 people have been evacuated from a town in southern Kayin (Karen) State due to severe flooding, according to a local administrator. “Kwin Gyi Stream, Kyate Stream, and Haung Tharaw River have flooded. The water level rose to around four feet in Kyaikdon due to the overflowing water from the mountain on July 26th,”…

On her sixth tour of Myanmar, UN human rights expert Yanghee Lee made a stop to meet with Karen social organizations in Hpa-an township, Kayin (Karen) State on July 16. “We discussed issues related to education, health, traditions and culture, women’s rights and rule of law. I discussed the situation of literature and culture. We were only submitting information about…

Karen State Chief Minister Daw Nan Khin Htwe Myint suffered from injuries in a car crash near Hpa-an on Friday, July 14 at around 7 AM as she was on her way to the birthday ceremony of Sayadaw U Pyinyar Thami, in Tuangalay, Hpa-an, Karen State. The Chief Minister was scheduled to attend the 57th birthday ceremony of Sayadaw U…

Over 1,000 signatures have so far been collected on a petition against building a coal-fired power plant in Karen State, according to local activists. Saw Aung Than Htwe from Htone Taung village said that around 1,300 signatures have been collected in 20 villages in Hpa-an township, as well as in Ta Kaung Boe and U Daung village tracts in Hlaingbwe…

Over 11,000 rural households in Karen State are set to newly receive electricity thanks to a long-awaited solar panel program. Under the National Electrification Project (NEP), the World Bank and the Department of Rural Development are installing heavily subsidized solar panels, which were sold to villagers at a fraction of the real cost. The panels are being installed atop more…

An EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) working committee has been established in Karen State. This came after a FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreement meeting with various civil society organizations (CSOs) in the state’s capital Hpa-an on June 17 and 18. CSO representative from the interim working committee Ko Zaw Thura said that “the aim is to now [raise…