Articles

Residents of a village in the Kawkareik Township say that there are plans by the Burma Army and the Border Guard Force to confiscate 500 acres of their land to develop a military camp. The *Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) has been told the land has already been surveyed and the head of the village has told plantation and paddy…

The humanitarian organization, Committee of Internally Displaced Karen People, say the Burma Army bombed and shelled residents from their Khaw T’Khaw village, east of the Thoutyaykhat River in Tandaung Township. According to a CIDKP member, the Burma Army Infantry Battalion 92 and Light Infantry Battalion 603 shelled the village after fighting between government troops and Karen National Liberation Army fighters…

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and government officials met for preliminary peace talk in state ministry at Pa-an, Karen State, at the end of October and the beginning of November. According to DKBA officials, a delegation led by DKBA Brigadier General Mo Shay met with government officials and Thein Zaw, the chairman of the National Race Affairs and Internal Peace…

An alliance of humanitarian agencies working with displaced people from Burma say the current, if small signs, of a shift to democratic reform in the country offers an opportunity to resolve ethnic conflict. The alliance, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium’s, annual survey of conditions in South East Burma “found that more people had been forcibly displaced from their homes during…

The humanitarian organisation Free Burma Rangers has released photographic evidence showing that the Burma Army forces civilians to act as human shields and minesweepers in conflict areas. In a statement released on October 23, Free Burma Rangers, said that on 5th June this year during a firefight with Karen National Liberation Army fighters in Dooplaya District, Burma Army soldiers mortared…

In recent months the Burma Army has increased its attacks on ethnic people. The Burma Army has been accused of rape, forced labor and firing artillery shells indiscriminately into villages. The ethnic protests against the government’s military offensives have spread to neighboring countries. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, more than 300 people of ethnic nationalities from Burma staged a protest in…

Burma’s new government continues to try to convince the international community it is moving to a more freer society, but eye-witness accounts of continued human rights abuses in ethnic states is evidence to the contrary. Earlier this month, villagers claim, seven ethic Kachin women were arrested and forced to labor as porters by the Burma Army’s Light Infantry Battalion 522…

It was on the full moon night of – Thidingyut – a night where Buddhists light candles and pray at temples or in their homes. I was wandering around a temple it’s lights shining bright. I was in Mae Sot, a Thai border town with the River Moei separating it from Myawaddy, a border town on the Burma side. I…

A group of ethnic journalists inside Burma is to launch a weekly journal called “The Union” in the last week of November which will mainly focus on cultural, literacy and issues that affect the daily lives of ethnic nationalities. Following the government’s claims that it is serious about creating media freedom environment, ethnic based media outlets are starting to emerge…

Last week the Burma Army and its militia, the Border Guard Force used the sanctuary of Thailand’s territory to attack Karen soldiers based in Hlaingbwe Township on the Burma side of the Moei River. Major Maung Lay, from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army’s Klo Htoo Lar unit confirmed that the Burma Army attacked his soldiers and both sides fired artillery…