Karen News

Local residents have blocked a road near Lun-Nya Village in Hpa-an Township, Karen State since January 3, due to damages caused by the vehicles from the quarries. Saw Khite Khite, head of the Lun-Nya Mountain Environmental Conservation Committee, said the farmers built the road for easier access to their farms. Now they erected pillars in the middle of the road…

Karen migrant youths living abroad including the United States, Norway, the Netherlands and local Karen youths are cooperating in an observation program along the border areas and the refugee camps. They also provided their assistance there from December 27 to January 15. Led by Power Mentor group, a team of Karen youths who migrated to foreign countries is observing the…

The Karen National Union (KNU)’s Win-Yay Township in Dooplaya District released a notification to the local authorities on December 29 to negotiate with them, on the issue of electing new village administrators in Kyain-seikgyi Township, Karen State. P’doh Saw Maung Shwe, chairman of the KNU’s Win-Yay Township, told Karen News on December 30 that the notification letter was issued due…

More than 200 local residents took part in the celebration of the 28th Karen traditional new crop harvesting season at Dai-Lut-Ta-Mo-Wong Village under Win-Yaw area of Kyain-seikgyi Township, Karen State on January 1. Nan Shar Si, member of the ceremony organizing committee, told Karen News that the traditional ceremony of new crop harvesting has been held since the Karen people…

Mutual trust plays a key role in the delay to signing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), said Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA)’s commander-in-chief General Saw Mo Shay, speaking at an event commemorating the DKBA’s 23rd anniversary at the group’s headquarters in Karen State on December 21. “We believe in the NCA. We signed it because we believe in the peace…

Elected representatives from Karen State held an open discussion this weekend, the first such public interaction organized since the politicians took office. Around 100 people attended the event at No. 3 Basic Education Sub-High School in Hpa’an on December 9, including the state’s Mon and Bamar Ethnic Affairs Ministers, MPs, and local residents. “We are meeting with the public to…

Karen State farmers have had enough of a silt-clogged stream preventing them from utilizing around 100 acres of paddy field for the past five years, according to a village administrator. With patience wearing thin, the residents of Taung Dee Village want their stream dredged and the upstream ditches removed. “The stream has been silted up for around five years. Rice…

A statue of Karen ethnic icon Saw Ba U Gyi will find temporary shelter in the Karen National Union (KNU)’s Kyain Seikgyi township office, after official objections were raised to its public installation. The Karen New Year’s Day Organizing Committee originally planned to erect the statue in Payathonzu, also known as Three Pagoda Pass, on the 80th Karen New Year’s…

The Mae Tao Clinic will continue to provide healthcare services along the Thai-Burma border despite cuts in international aid, the clinic’s founder, Dr Cynthia Maung, said at a celebration for her 58th birthday on December 6. “We will have to face many challenges in the future, under the current political transition. The Mae Tao Clinic will continue to exist as…

Villagers from the Lun Nya Mountain area sent a petition to the Karen State Chief Minister on November 22 to protest companies quarrying rock on Lun Nya Mountain, in Hpa-an township, Karen State. Saw Khite Khite, director at Lun Nya Mountain’s Environment Conservation Committee, said that the purpose of the petition was to get the state government to take legal…