Articles

The Myaing Gyi Ngu shelter for displaced families is in urgent need of roof repairs before the monsoon season fully kicks in, officials said. The Karen State temporary shelter began housing thousands of people last September when fighting erupted between a splinter faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the Tatmadaw and a border militia. Donations to the camp…

Amid much speculation about what can be achieved at the second round of the Union Peace Conference, scheduled to start on May 24, even the ceasefire signatory groups seem baffled. The Restoration Council of Shan State announced that while it will attend the meeting, it will neither submit nor sign any binding proposals or agreements. “Since the second session of…

Today, while the peace dialogue in Nay Phyi Daw resumes for its second round, displaced Karen villagers in remote areas of northern Karen State staged a protest over the Burma Army occupying their lands and preventing their safe return. The protest took place at Ei Tu Hta, an internally displaced people camp situated on the Salween River in Papun district.…

A member of the Karen State government has objected to a Karen National Union official totting guns in an area of “dual administration”. The KNU signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) in 2015, which as they were recently reminded, restricts them from carrying guns in areas not under their control. The Kayin State Minister of Security and Border Affairs sent…

Myanmar needs a conflict prevention network, religious and civil society leaders in Tanintharyi Region announced at a conference this week. “We will establish a network by uniting people of different religions from various fields [to prevent] issues that can cause religious conflict and can harm peace,” said Ko Arkar Oo, an organizer of the Peace and Goodwill Forum. The May…

A Canadian charity and the Karen National Union launched Karen State’s first modern teaching hospital this weekend. The 24-bed, Taw Naw Teaching Hospital will train local healthcare practitioners and help boost local public health services, according to Global Neighbors Canada Inc. Padoh Saw Eh K’lu Shwe Oo, head of Karen State’s Department of Health and Welfare, said the Taw Naw…

Tourists are increasingly finding their way to a unique enclave in Kayin (Karen) State where the Telaku Karen live, village elders told KIC news. The Telaku village in Hpa-an township is home to just over three dozen members of the sub-group of the Karen people. Though the residents live just 30 minutes from the state capital, they have kept fairly…

Migrant workers and employers find the resulting process of the official joint agreement of the Thai and Burma governments to issue them with new legal papers time consuming, difficult and complicated. The two governments reached an agreement to issue the new paperwork known as, the Certificate of Identity (CI) in October last year, but there has been delays in implementing…

Journalists working at Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, The Age in Melbourne and the Australian Financial Review took strike action on Wednesday 10 May to protest management’s decision to cut 125 full time jobs at the newspapers. Staff took strike action after management cut the workers out of negotiations that will see newsroom staff cut by 25%, a reduction that furious…

A Burma embassy official denied what he said were “rumors” about migrant workers being arrested or left stranded at the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border. Prior to Thingyan, Thailand announced a New Year’s gift for its large community of migrant workers, declaring that passport-holding laborers could return home for the holidays without having to pay for a visa and without fear of…