Karen News

Patients from Mae Ra Ma Luang Refugee Camp in the Thai Northern Province of Mae Hong Song were injured when the referral car carrying them was hit by a falling tree on a road, 50 kilometers away from Mae Sariang Town. The accident took place on August 4 as the pickup truck carrying the referred patients was returning from Mae…

Fighting between troops from the Border Guard Force and renegade soldiers from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army this week wounded four villagers. The armed clash took place between Kawt Nwe and Tadangu village near the new Kawkariek-Myawaddy Asia Highway on August 4. The breakaway DKBA troops were led by Lieutenant Na Ma Kyar and the BGF soldiers were from battalion…

In an effort to foster trust in the country’s peace building and in future political movements, ethnic youth from all over Burma formed an alliance at their latest conference. The National Ethnic Youth Conference was held from July 27 to August 1 in Panglong, Lwelin Township in southern Shan State. A Burma ethnic youth alliance comprised of 26 ethnic groups…

A new report by the Karen Human Rights Group has documented the insecurity and mistrust ethnic women have to Burmese authorities following decades of armed conflict. The report, entitled Hidden Strengths, Hidden Struggles, catalogues some of the main concerns ethnic women have as they go about their daily lives, including fears over personal security, sexual violence, land confiscation and access…

MAI JA YANG, Kachin State (Myanmar Now) – It’s nearly dinner time at the dormitory in Mai Ja Yang and teachers are busy in the kitchen, while several teenagers are lounging on benches outside the building in this Kachin rebel-controlled town on the Myanmar-China border. While some sleep or read, La Phai, 16, is strumming his guitar. He said he…

Compensation would be given to locals whose farmlands or fruit tree plantations were affected by the two power cable projects from Myawady to Mawlamyaing and Myawady to Kawkareik. The Myawady-Mawlamyaing 230 KV and Myawady-Kawkareik 66 KV power line projects is being built, some of its towers run through farmlands and plantations. Government officials have said that a committee will be…

Karen State based political parties and civil society groups said that they are not invited to take part at the state level Joint Monitoring Committee-State Level (JMC-S). The state level JMC-S was formed with 16 committee members at the headquarters of the Burma Army 22 Light Infantry Division in Hpa-an on the 29th of June, 2016. Saw Kyaw Swa, of…

The Border Consortium, a coalition of INGO’s that has administered aid to the camps for over three decades, is preparing for a pilot project that uses a card system to deliver food rations to refugee camps residents from the end of July, 2016. The food card system will begin with some households in the Nu Po and Tham Hin refugee…

The ongoing conflict in Shan and Kachin State is escalating, according to frontline humanitarian organization, Free Burma Rangers, with two civilians killed. “The Burma Army is currently engaged in an escalating conflict in both northern Shan and Kachin states. The situation has left several dead, including a 22-year-old man killed by a landmine, and others injured, such as a 39-year-old…

Delegates from ethnic political parties and women groups are to be invited to the plenary ethnic armed groups’ summit scheduled to be held from July 26 to 29 at Mai Ja Yang, Kachin State. The decision to invite ethnic political parties and the women’s groups was decided the Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN) and leaders from Coordination Team (CT) of…