A small Karen boy leads two large brown bulls in search of a much-needed feed of grass. The summer sun has baked the ground hard and dried the grass brittle. The boy is wedged between the huge animals his small frame dwarfed by their bulk. The boy, Saw Tabluklee, blinks against the bright sun, his skin burnt brown and says…
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The Italian-Thai Development Company has made a second compensation payment to Karen villagers affected by the Dawei-Kanchanaburi road construction in eastern Tavoy Town. On June 8, the Italian-Thai Development Company and its partner, Max Myanmar, paid 15,582,240 Thai baht (4,93,750.47 US$)compensation to 20 villagers affected by the road between Myitta and Kaw Htee Lor (Thebyu Chaung). The villagers’ plantations were…
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The Karen People’s Forum has demanded the Burma government and the Karen National Union suspend all mega development projects in Karen State during the current peace negotiation process. The Karen People’s Forum and villagers representating 23 villages based on the Salween River met in Papun Township on June 5 for two days to discuss how they could be involved in…
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The ongoing use of landmines by the Burma Army and armed groups in Eastern Burma continues to threaten civilians according to a report released this week by the Karen Human Rights Group. The KHRG report – ‘Uncertain Ground’ – documents the period between January 2011 and May 2012, and includes evidence taken from a total of 119 testimonies from local…
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The Burma government has ordered checkpoints staffed by soldiers from the Burma Army and rogue elements from the Karen National Liberation Army to be closed down. Villagers in the area told Karen News that the checkpoints at Bawti, Iwai, Wartaw and Sin Phyu Tai were extorting ‘taxes’ from travelers in Myitta Sub Township, Tavoy, in the Tenasserim Division Sin Phyu…
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According to a Karen National Union source, villagers in Kyauk Kyi Township in the Bago Region have more freedom to travel since the preliminary ceasefire agreement between Karen National Union and government. Padoh Saw Ner Htoo Byaing, KNU chairman in Kyauk Kyi Township told Karen News. “Villagers now don’t need to get travel permission documents to move around the area.…
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On Monday 16 January, witnesses claim that the Nat Htate village headman and two villagers were taken at gunpoint from their homes by a group of unknown men in army uniforms. A villager, who asked not be named, spoke to Karen News about the incident. The villager said the headman, Saw Aye Paw, 45, and two other villagers, Saw Kaw…
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