Karen News

Speaking at ceremony held in Rangoon to honour retired Karen university teachers, professor Saw Si Thet Paw, told the large gathering that Karen people were in danger of losing their ability to speak their native languages. Speaking to Karen News, Professor Saw Si Thet Paw said. “When I started at the school, Karen people from Insein and Kyit Myin Taing…

Derek Mitchell, the US Ambassador to Burma met with key Karen National Union members in Pa-an (Hpa-an) earlier this month. KNU officials said a number of issues were discussed with Ambassador Mitchell, including, the current political climate, the process of the KNU and government ceasefires with ethnic armed groups and the ethnic alliances. The KNU general secretary, Padoh Saw Kweh…

Tensions are running high after a Burma Army officer beat up Karen National Union member and detained him in Southern Burma. The incidence happened at a checkpoint located near Ka Saw Wah village in Tenasserim Division that is in the Karen National Union’s Brigade 4. A Burma Army operation commander beat up and detained the KNU member, Saw Ah Pih…

Mya Kan Thar Mining Company received permission from the State government to mine for antinomy in the Lay Thar Plaw area in Kyain Seikgyi Township in Karen State. U Myo Aung Htay, secretary of the Karen State Administration Office signed, on behalf of the State Minister, a letter dated December 27, 2012 and sent to the Union Mining Minister at…

Community workers flew from Rangoon on Saturday 19 January, to Colombo, Sri Lanka to meet with and learn from the experiences of civil society organisations who had experienced years of conflict. Ma Thiri Myat Htin, the organiser and the Program Manager of the Intensive Asia Program, spoke to Karen News. Ma Thiri Myat Htin said that the people in the…

Burma’s Army launched new air and artillery strikes against the Kachin Independence Army on the 18th of January despite the government announcing a ceasefire to begin 6am on Saturday. Humanitarian groups monitoring the situation from inside Kachin State said air strikes had stopped but heavy artillery continues to bombarded KIA positions. The ceasefire announcement comes as the U.S. and UK…

Following the release of four protesters last week, an international advocacy group, Burma Campaign UK, called on the Burma government to stop using vague and undemocratic laws to jail its opponents. Burma’s military-backed government released four political prisoners on Friday, 18th of January. The prisoners released were Aung Hmine San, Than Htike, Min Naing Lwin and Thein Aung Myint. They…

Two of Burma’s most significant opposition alliances have united to condemn the government’s escalation of the Kachin conflict and criticize the ceasefire it announced on Saturday. The United Nationalities Federal Council and The National Council of the Union of Burma have released statements condemning President U Thein Sien’s government’s war in Kachin State as a step backward in achieving peace…

A memorial prayer service was held for Padoh Saw David Taw, the late leader of Karen National Union who was also a member of peace committee, after a hundred days of his death at Hsa Thoo Lei Learning Center in the Thai border town of Mae Sot, Tak Province on Saturday, January 19. Naw Jin Jar, wife of David Taw…

In an exclusive interview with Karen News, Ko Bo Kyi, a founding member and joint-secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), outlined his concerns over Burma’s on going reform process and the treatment of current and former political prisoners inside Burmese prisons. According to the AAPP in the last two years around 1,000 political prisoners have been released,…