Karen News

A peanut farmer in An Pha Gyi village explained to Karen News. “Our peanuts have been harvested. We had to harvest the peanuts during the day and flee [the fighting] at night. We had to harvest and shell them in a rush. Some were not exposed to the sun [to dry]. We usually sell them as soon as they are…

Justice for Myanmar, a campaign alliance collecting, investigating evidence and exposing the business network of the Burma military, issued a statement welcoming the European Union’s decision to impose economic sanctions on 22 individuals associating with the junta and four companies, including the International Group of Entrepreneurs (IGE), Mining Enterprise 1 (ME1), Htoo Group, and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE),…

Colonel Saw Htoo Ka Shaw, tactical commander of the KNLA Brigade 5, told Karen News the Burma Army is using the BGF to reinforce its depleted troop numbers because of the high casualties it suffered in recent fighting. “The Burma Army now needs to send weapons and food rations to Papun [its front line bases] because many of its soldiers…

Charcoal sellers said city residents and villagers that had access to electricity have been experiencing regular power outages, with most ordinary people having to rely on charcoal for cooking, charcoal traders are facing increased demands for charcoal. A charcoal trader in Hpa-an told Karen News. “Now, the electricity supply is not running regularly. If there is no electricity, we rely…

A local KNLA commander spoke to Karen News about the battle to win back the territory from the Burma Army. “We have now regained control of the [Burma Army] hilltop base. It was a strategic target, whoever gets control of the hilltop will take position there and control the area from the high ground. Now we have the position under…

On Wednesday, 16th February, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allies attacked Burma Army positions in the Palu area, including an artillery launching pad on a hilltop overlooking Palu Lay village. The Burma Army in response launched airstrikes and heavy artillery bombardments into the battle zone. A KNLA Joint Forces Officer, Captain Saw Da Baw, based in the…

The Karen National Union’s 5th Brigade issued the letter on January 29, calling on all civil servants in Papun, Karen State to leave their positions from February 1st to the 10th, and to refrain from performing their duties under the military dictatorship. Local KNU officials confirmed to Karen News that more than 100 Papun civil servants working in a variety…

Trawling through transcripts of my interviews with the late Padoh Mahn Sha, it stood out that his guidance and political intellect would be invaluable today as fighting rages between ethnic armed groups, their allies and the Burma Army and its sponsored militia’s. In November 2006, Padoh Mahn Sha explained why the Karen National Union was unwilling to surrender. “Our resolve…

I first met cartoonist Harn Lay, 15 years ago in the northern Thai town of Chiang Mai. He was then working for the Irrawaddy magazine. I was impressed by his cartoons that never failed to skewer Burma’s military regime and wanted to write a feature about him and his work. Today, the military regime still rules Burma with an iron…

The State Administrative Council sent its invitation to all of the Ethnic Armed Organizations, both signatories and non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, those exclude were those labelled by the military regime as terrorist organizations. Padoh Saw Taw Nee, head of the KNU’s Foreign Affairs Department, said they would not attend the meeting that will be led by the regime’s…