Peacetalk

Burma’s military is engaging in systemic torture against civilians in its ongoing war in Kachin State, now in its third year, and committing “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” a leading human rights watchdog has claimed in a report released today. The 71-page report entitled, Ending Wartime Torture in Northern Myanmar, by Fortify Rights, documents the torture and abuse of…

Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung, a Central Executive Committee member of the Karen National Union said in his speech at a peace process consultation meeting that lasting and genuine peace could only be reached when there is mutual respect between the government, ethnic groups and citizens. Padoh Mahn Nyein Maung made the statement while attending a peace building process consultation meeting…

Mahn Robert Zan, an advisor to the Karen Communities of Minnesota and a former Karen freedom fighter urged the Karen National Union (KNU) to set a limited timeframe for their ceasefire negotiations with Burma’s government. Mahn Robert Zan, a son of former KNU chairperson Mahn Ba Zan, made the statement during an interview with Karen News while attending the 10th…

In an exclusive Karen News interview a senior commander in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) has added his voice to the growing calls for Burma’s military-backed government to amend the country’s undemocratic constitution before the 2015 national elections, as it ensures effective military veto in parliament and blocks prominent pro-democracy politician Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the Presidency.…

Giving the opening address at the 10th Karen Unity Seminar, the Karen National Union’s chairperson, Saw Mutu Sae Po called all the attending Karen representatives to work towards what he called ‘unity in diversity’. General Mutu Sae Po welcome the wide variety of Karen groups attending the event before saying. “We are divided in many ways and means…this disunity is…

A Karen National Union (KNU) delegation led by its Vice Chairperson Padoh Naw Zipporah Sein made a historic political tour to Karen communities in the Irrawaddy Delta in early May. The 21-member delegation team included members of KNU’s Central Executive Committee Padoh Saw Thamein Tun, Padoh Saw Myat Maung, Padoh Saw Hla Tun, Padoh Saw Liston and Padoh Saw Neh…

The Karen National Union’s vice chairperson, Naw Zipporah Sein, travelled to the Irrawaddy Delta and to Rangoon to hear what people thought and felt about the ongoing peace process. When Naw Zipporah Sein said that “the peace process needs to be inclusive,” her recent trip across Burma added meaning to her words. The soft-spoken, yet staunchly principled Vice Chairperson of…

Duwa Jee, a Kachin freelance writer, outlines in his commentary why the current peace process has to take into account the past 60 years of civil war that ravaged the ethnic people of Burma. The ethnic nationalities of Burma/Myanmar is of the view that the ethnic armed resistance forces are desirous of ending the more than 60-year long civil war…

Karen National Union delegates led by its vice chairperson Padoh Naw Zipporah Sein met with Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the current peace process at her house in Rangoon. During the May 9 meeting, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD) exchanged views on the peace process with KNU officials. Padoh Naw…

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…