Articles

Following a spate of attacks by unknown gunmen and bombers against a businessman with links to the Burma army and other military target in and around Three Pagoda Pass Town, authorities have increased security and the number of checkpoints in the area. Residents say checkpoints are manned 24 hours and army presence in the town is now highly visible. A…

Heavy rains battering eastern Burma have destroyed many rice farms cultivated by displaced Karen people. Humanitarian groups on the Thai Burma border say these people will face a food crisis at the next harvest. Naw Iris, a coordinator with the Committee of Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP) overseeing the Pa-an and Doo Pla Ya Districts spoke to Karen News about…

The Burma government has repeatedly denied the use of forced labor to international organisations, but villagers from Dweh Loe township in Papun district say the Burma army has forced men, women and including children, some as young as 11 to porter rations for their troops. In March 2010, in his report to the UN Human Rights Council, Tomas Ojea Quintana,…

Since July 2010, Burma’s military regime has insisted on keeping the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border checkpoint closed in retaliation for what it claims was the unofficial construction of a concrete embankment on the Thai side. A year has almost passed and the border crossing between Mae Sot and Myawaddy is still closed. In spite of rumours that it would open after…

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.…