Articles

Farmers in the Nyaungliebin District of Karen State say the combination of severe weather that destroyed most of their crops and an out-of-control Burma Army stealing their foodstocks and livestock means many people now face starvation. Chamu reports. Villagers in Mone Township, Nyaungliebin District, Karen State, from both the lowland and the highland areas, are facing food scarcity. Unseasonable rains…

Fighting between Border Guard Force factions forced 14 village schools in Hlaingbwe Township area to close. The fighting erupted after breakaway fighters and Border Guard Force soldiers loyal to the Burma Army clashed. The renegade faction unhappy with demands and controls exerted on the BGF by the Burma Army, reformed under their old flag – the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.…

Last week a researcher from the Karen Human Rights Group witnessed villagers in the Palu area been used as forced labor by the Burma Army. The KHRG eye-witness account comes on the back of other reports of forced labor occurring in other areas of Karen State in recent months. In June as many as 400 villagers in Kyaukgyi Township were…

The Karen National Union has issued a warning to rogue companies operating in Karen areas that if they exploit local people, destroy the environment they will be forced to leave and take their business elsewhere. The KNU’s general secretary, Naw Zipporah Sein, said. “Any company that does not get KNU official permission and confiscates land belonging to villagers will be…

Yesterday Italian-Thai company workers were evacuated back to Thailand to escape fighting between Karen fighters and Burma army soldiers near their camp base. A Karen National Liberation Army source told Karen News, that on the morning of the 28 July KNLA fighter from Brigade 4 torched a temporary Burma Army camp on the Kanchanaburi-Tavoy highway. The Italian-Thai Company camp, known…

Amid much fanfare the new Burma education minister announced in April this year that all compulsory primary education would be free in the academic year 2011 to 2012. Parents in Karen State say it is now July and so far the much-lauded free education has yet to materalize as promised. A mother of students attending Pa-an Town high school told…

Mr Samart Loifah, the governor of Tak Province, sent shockwaves through the Burmese refugee camps when he told reporters earlier this week that Thai authorities had been discussing with Burmese officials the possibility of closing the border camps. Mr. Loifah also speculated that Thai authorities would target Burmese pro-democracy opposition groups living on the Thai side of the border. Mr…

International funds for Burmese refugees living in Thailand are being slashed — ZOA, a major educational donor plans to stop operating in the camps by 2012. Recent budget cuts to international educational organisations operating in seven refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border have resulted in many teachers leaving. Teachers told Karen News that the coming year will be a challenge…

Reports this week from Kachin and Shan States confirm rape is still being used as a tactic by the Burma Army to demoralise and terrorise ethnic communities. Shirley Seng, a spokeswomen working with the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand, told Karen News that since June 9, Burma army soldiers have raped 32 women. “No woman is safe from these soldiers. In…

A giant construction project managed by an Italian-Thai company has run into a number of major stumbling blocks in Karen State. Villagers say they have not been compensated for the loss of their land and the Karen National Union has stopped it building a highway to Thailand. The Italian-Thai Development Company has begun negotiations with the Karen National Union to…