Karen News

Burmese government plans to replace armed ceasefire groups with a Border Guard Force now lies in ruins among the smouldering buildings of their army camp based in Ka Ma Maunn, Karen State. As many as 1,000 soldiers from the former Democratic Karen Buddhist Army who initially joined the BGF turned their arms on a Burma army camp at Ka Ma…

Since July 2010, Burma’s military regime has insisted on keeping the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border checkpoint closed in retaliation for what it claims was the unofficial construction of a concrete embankment on the Thai side. A year has almost passed and the border crossing between Mae Sot and Myawaddy is still closed. In spite of rumours that it would open after…

The Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) issued a statement at the 6th congress in June, urging the newly elected Burmese president, U Thein Sein, to stop military attacks in ethnic areas, to hold a nationwide ceasefire and to start peace talk. So far the ENC request has made no impact on the Burma government. Fighting in Kachin, Shan and Karen State…

Myawaddy residents are running on scared after recent fighting in the area. Eyewitnesses said a civilian who ignored a Burma army warning not to drive on the Myawaddy-Kawkeriek road was shot dead by a soldier. A resident who witnessed the conflict told Karen News that fighting between Karen fighters and Burma army soldiers lasted about an hour. “The fighting was…

Saw The Blay, has spent 27 of his 34 years as a Karen refugee in Mae La refugee camp in Tak, Thailand and says he regrets not being able to live in his homeland. “I want to go back, but I dare not to go back. We cannot go home because there is no security – nothing but fighting and…

Budget cuts affecting an educational INGO that operates in seven refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border have put additional burdens on refugee families struggling to provide for their children’s schooling. An official at ZOA Refugee Care Thailand, a Netherlands-based NGO, said the organization faces severe funding cuts from major European donors that will affect the group’s support for teacher salaries…

A group of Karen refugee musicians and aritsts have got together to paint, write and sing about their hurts, love and their revolution. The group got together in 2006 determined to change misperceptions that refugees are nothing more than a needy rabble. Kweh Say, a founding member of the group, Thoe Tau Bweh Music Village, spoke to Karen News about…

A group of unknown gunmen drove into Three Pagoda Pass town in Kyain Seikygi Township, at about 12pm, shot at and burned a house, belonging to a businessman with close links to the Burma army. An eyewitness to the shooting incident told Karen News the gunmen arrived on a pick-up vehicle and only targeted, businessman’s U Aung Tin Win’s house.…

Civilian witnesses in Three Pagoda Pass town said yesterday evening, in what regional security agencies say is an unusual twist to the on-going conflict between the Karen fighters and the Burma army, two gun-men on a motorbike, shot up Burma army soldiers from IB 284 in town, wounding two soldiers. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.…

Fighting this week between Karen fighters and Burma army soldiers forced 200 villagers from Mae Ka Tha out of their homes. Mae Ka Tha village is located in the Three Pagodas Pass area in Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State. On June 10, Karen fighters attacked the Burma army Light Infantry Brigade 563 based near the monastery of Mae Ka Tha…