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Major General Nerdah Bo Mya, head of the Karen National Defence Organisation, congratulated the National League for Democracy for its winning performance in the national elections on November 8th, 2015. “We welcome a victory that wins Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD government. Under a democratic government it will be easier for ethnic people to achieve our goals.” General…

Health workers in Thailand said 2015 was a bad year for dengue fever and resulted in more than a hundred deaths and tens of thousands of cases. Ms Aya Tabata, the coordinator of the Stop Dengue, Protect Your Family campaign, said that 2015 was the worst year for Thailand since 2010. “From January to November this year there were 102…

Although the official results of the November 8th election have not been announced, the National League for Democracy candidates running for seats in Myawaddy District are confident they have won. U Sein Bo, the NLD, Myawaddy district chairperson, and a House of Representative or Pyithu Hluttaw candidate spoke to Karen News of his confidence that had only to wait on…

Despite many ethnic communities being excluded from the vote, dodgy voter lists that omitted thousands of voters’ names and others that had thousands of ‘extra’ names people across the country turned out to show their support for political parties. A media statement released in the name of US Secretary of State, John Kerry, congratulated “the people of Burma on the…

Civil Society Organizations responsible for organizing voter education activities and some political parties’ candidates have said that they expect only 20% of Karen voters in today’s election to vote correctly in the seven townships in Karen State. Saw Kyaw Swar from the Karen State Community Network who worked on the voter education activities in Karen State told Karen News that,…

The people of Burma will vote in the country’s national elections on Sunday November 8. In the build-up to the election international onlookers were concerned that a National League for Democracy (NLD) candidate was stabbed with a machete at a campaign event in Yangon, many citizens had been removed from voter lists, religious intolerance in Rakhine State and that many…

Thelma Gyi, the daughter of the charismatic Karen political leader, Saw Ba U Gyi, has called for the country’s ethnic people to stand up for their rights. “Unite, demand the legal recognition of your state borders. Demand an end to corruption, war crimes, land grabbing, selling and exploiting the land rights for personal gain.” Speaking just before Burma’s national elections…

The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement signing ceremony on Oct 15 was Thein Sein’s big chance to add some much-needed credence to the national elections to be held next Sunday. But despite Thein Sein and Gen Mutu Sae Po’s optimism, not everyone is convinced the NCA will bring stability to the country. In fact, ethnic groups say fighting continues unabated, killing civilians…

Burma’s government is under pressure to establish an independent inquiry into the treatment of ethnic Rohingya with a new report highlighting widespread human rights abuses that, “could constitute genocide.” A report conducted by the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School on behalf of the human rights organisation Fortify Rights called for a United Nations inquiry…

As of October, twelve villagers had died and 61 villages suffered from cholera outbreak in Kawkareik and Kyain Seikgyi Townships near the Thai-Burma border – health workers from both countries are trying to stop the spread of the deadly disease. Statistics from the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) show that most of the villages affected are in areas…