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The Ethnic Nationalities Council (ENC) issued a statement at the 6th congress in June, urging the newly elected Burmese president, U Thein Sein, to stop military attacks in ethnic areas, to hold a nationwide ceasefire and to start peace talk. So far the ENC request has made no impact on the Burma government. Fighting in Kachin, Shan and Karen State…

Myawaddy residents are running on scared after recent fighting in the area. Eyewitnesses said a civilian who ignored a Burma army warning not to drive on the Myawaddy-Kawkeriek road was shot dead by a soldier. A resident who witnessed the conflict told Karen News that fighting between Karen fighters and Burma army soldiers lasted about an hour. “The fighting was…

Saw The Blay, has spent 27 of his 34 years as a Karen refugee in Mae La refugee camp in Tak, Thailand and says he regrets not being able to live in his homeland. “I want to go back, but I dare not to go back. We cannot go home because there is no security – nothing but fighting and…

A group of Karen refugee musicians and aritsts have got together to paint, write and sing about their hurts, love and their revolution. The group got together in 2006 determined to change misperceptions that refugees are nothing more than a needy rabble. Kweh Say, a founding member of the group, Thoe Tau Bweh Music Village, spoke to Karen News about…

A group of unknown gunmen drove into Three Pagoda Pass town in Kyain Seikygi Township, at about 12pm, shot at and burned a house, belonging to a businessman with close links to the Burma army. An eyewitness to the shooting incident told Karen News the gunmen arrived on a pick-up vehicle and only targeted, businessman’s U Aung Tin Win’s house.…

Civilian witnesses in Three Pagoda Pass town said yesterday evening, in what regional security agencies say is an unusual twist to the on-going conflict between the Karen fighters and the Burma army, two gun-men on a motorbike, shot up Burma army soldiers from IB 284 in town, wounding two soldiers. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.…

Fighting this week between Karen fighters and Burma army soldiers forced 200 villagers from Mae Ka Tha out of their homes. Mae Ka Tha village is located in the Three Pagodas Pass area in Kyain Seikgyi Township, Karen State. On June 10, Karen fighters attacked the Burma army Light Infantry Brigade 563 based near the monastery of Mae Ka Tha…

Karen National Liberation Army sources confirm that in clashes on June 10 in the area of Lamphan village – 19 miles south of Kawkreik town, Karen fighters had killed eight Burmese soldiers and wounded seven. The Burma army Light Infantry Brigade 201 operating in the Lamphan village area was ambushed by a combined force from the Karen National Liberation, Battalion…

United States Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) visited Thailand last month ahead of meetings scheduled with Aung San Suu Kyi and Burmese government officials, a visit that included stops at the Mae La refugee camp and the Mae Tao clinic in Mae Sot. The former U.S. presidential contender told staff, patients and others assembled at the clinic that he planned to…

Karen National Union (KNU) officials issued a statement opposing local or foreign investment in eastern Burma and urged Thai authorities to abandon any plans for the repatriation of tens of thousands of Karen refugees living in camps along the border. KNU officials met for three days last month for a unity conference at an undisclosed location in eastern Burma. Representatives…