Karen News

The Karen National Union (KNU) demanded negotiations with the union government over the plan to resume the construction of a two-lane highway connecting Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which has been suspended during U Thein Sein Administration in 2013, and the Thai border. The KNU issued a statement on February 1 in response to the government’s announcement on December 2,…

The Karen National Union (KNU) chairman General Mutu Sae Poe said the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) was signed to solve political problems by political means and it was not to abandon the way of arms. He said this in his address to the 69th Karen National Revolutionary Day on January 31. “The KNU has thought and performed by putting at…

The Karen State government will invite the State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to the upcoming multi-ethnic cultural festival in the Karen State. Led by the Karen State government, the first multi-ethnic cultural festival will be held at Thiri Stadium in the state’s capital Hpa-an from February 9 to 12. “We have invited her verbally a few months ago.…

The Karen National Union (KNU) will hold a plenary meeting among Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) representatives from the KNU to discuss the implementation of the JMC. The decision was made during the emergency meeting of the KNU’s Central Standing Committee held from January 23 to 26. The KNU’s secretary general P’doh Saw Tar Doh told Karen News that the plenary…

The Karen National Union (KNU) Central held a consultative meeting with Karen community-based organizations (CBOs) and civil society organizations at the KNU-controlled area in Law Khee Lar on January 29-30 to explain the current peace process and political dialogues carried out by the KNU. The KNU’s joint secretary P’doh Saw Hla Tun told Karen News that the two-day meeting aimed…

Students from government schools and Karen Education Department (KED) run schools took part in the annual Karen student fellowship event held on January 18 in Pai Kyone Twonship, Pa-an District, Karen State. According to Saw Rainbow, organizer of the event, the fellowship is aimed to improve relationship and friendship between local schools. The fellowship organizing committee invited students and teachers…

A joint team of the Karen National Police Force (KNPF) and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) seized over 300 yaba (methamphetamine) pills and three percussion lock firearms and arrested the owners in Kawkareik Township, Karen State on January 21. The joint team conducted a surprise inspection at Hpan Khar Kone Ward in Aung Hpa (Aw Hpa) Gyi Village under…

The Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security (MIPS) launched a book titled ‘Discussions on the Principles of the Building of the Democratic Federal Union of Myanmar” at the Orchid Hotel on January 18 in Yangon. Dr Min Zaw Oo from MIPS, who participated in the drafting of the research paper, said the ethnic armed organizations have federal principles while the…

A total of 21 civil society groups from inside and outside Burma are concerned that the European Union has eased its position on the plight of the country’s Rohingya people. Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK urged the EU, in a media statement released today by the civil society organisations, to maintain a more forceful position against the Burma…

Drug seizures in 2017, in Karen State tripled compared to 2016 and the majority of the arrests were made in Hpa-an and Myawaddy, according to the State Police Chief Kyin Lin. “When we took more actions against the traffickers rather than the users, we seized over 2.1 million methamphetamine tablets. We seized over 1.5 million tablets beyond the number in…