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Following a ban placed by the Karen National Union on the Italian-Thai Development Company’s Kanchanaburi-Tavoy road construction, the Burma Army have responded by reinforcing their troop numbers by sending six more battalions to the area. According to an unnamed KNU source based in the area, Burma Army reinforcements started to arrive on October 11. The KNU source estimated that there…

The Brotherhood Forum, a group of five ethnic political parties from Burma urged the government to release all political prisoners from the country’s jails. A statement released by the Brotherhood Forum on October 15 demanded four things from the government – immediately release the Shan politician, U Khun Htun Oo and all other ethnic politicians, immediately release Ko Min Ko…

Fighters from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army launched an attack on a Burmese Army frontline unit at Wawlay area southern Myawaddy Town killing six soldiers and wounding one. Major San Aung, a DKBA spokesperson, confirmed for Karen News, that on October 12, DKBA’s Klo Htoo Baw Tactical Command Unit led by Major Chit Thei attacked Burma Army Light Infantry Battalions…

Banners with “Teachers for Gender Equality” written on them were hanging on both walls and on the stage at the Children Development Center, a migrant school in Mae Sot, a Thai town on the border between Thailand and Burma. The Children Development Center was hosting the 2011 World Teachers’ Day celebrations. Since 1994, World Teachers’ Day is held each year…

The Burma government has worked hard in recent months to present a good image to the international community. They are seen engaging with opposition groups, offering peace talks to ethnic armed organisations and releasing a few political prisoners in an effort to convince the international community that they are prepared to embrace democratic change. The only blemish on the government’s…

The Karenni Backpack Relief Team said a severe whooping cough outbreak in the two villages; in northern Hpruso Township, Kayah State has killed two children and has so far infected more than 50 children. Khu Denia, the director of the KBRT told Karen News that the disease starting to appear among village children in the first week of October. “We…

Ethnic political and armed groups claim the Burma governments recent talks about wanting peace is nothing more than a ploy to fool the international community into supporting its attempt to get the ASEAN chair. The ethnic groups say the insincerity of the government’s peace talks have escalated armed clashes between the Burma Army and ethnic armed groups in Karen State.…

The Kachin Development Network Group claim in a media statement released on October 14 that all work on the Myitsone dam project has not stopped as surveys are still been carried out and equipment and supplies are still being delivered. A spoke person for KDNG, Ah Nan, said land surveys are still being carried out at construction site 7 on…

In early October, the Burma Army’s militia, the Border Guard Force based in Kawkariek Township, issued orders to local villages requesting their rice paddy be donated as rations for their soldiers. A resident told Karen News that the villages are in a tight spot as they have been officially ordered to send between 50 to 100 tins (equal to 1045…

Htee Wah Keh villagers have accused the Burma Army’s militia, the Border Guard Force, of taking their farmlands and selling it to near-by villages in 200-acre blocks of land. Htee Wah Keh village is close to Kawkaraik Township, Karen State. The villagers claim that BGF Captain Saw Htay Naing, from Battalion 1021, began measuring the farmland in early September. A…