Articles

The political situation in Burma had offered some hope for the more than 90,000 refugees living in refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border to return to their homeland. Beginning in 2013, some refugees made the decision to return to Burma on their own, while others decided to go back through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) sponsored ‘Voluntary…

Journalists in Myanmar are being hunted and arrested by the country’s military for trying to do their job. Independent media outlets have been raided, licenses revoked and offices closed. To avoid arrest, independent journalists have gone into deep hiding, taken refuge in ethnic controlled regions or fled to neighboring countries. The military and its paid informers trawl through neighborhoods, coffee…

Karen community groups said fighter jets for two consecutive days fired on Karen villages in northern Mutraw (Papun) district, Karen State, forcing more than 300 people to take refuge in Thailand. The military regime retaliated with airstrikes after the capture of another frontline base on the Thai-Burma border on April 27, 2021 by the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed…

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) launched an offensive against the Burma Army camp in the early morning of Tuesday 27 April. The KNLA attack was successful. Colonel Saw Kler Doh, spokesperson for KNLA 5th Brigade confirmed the capture of the military regime’s army base to Karen News. Colonel Saw Kler Doh said the KNLA operation was launched in response…

Mahn Nyein Maung, a former member of the Karen National Union’s Central Executive Committee, a member of Burma’s State Administrative Council (SAC), is included in a recent targeted sanctions list imposed by European Union (EU) on the military regime and its two military conglomerates. The EU’s announcement, made on the 19th of April, named 10 military junta leaders in the…

As a freelance photojournalist, Ng Maung has worked the frontlines of the protests since Myanmar’s military coup began on 1st February. Keeping low, behind flimsy barricades of wood, corrugated tin, tyres and bamboo, he photographed the hurts police and army inflicted on pro-democracy activists. Ng Maung told IFJ of the danger protestors and journalists are facing from heavily armed police…

Burma Army soldiers based at the Paw Khay Kho military camp in Mutraw district fired twelve artillery shells into Yeh Mu Plaw, Tae Boe Plaw and Saw Mu Plaw villages around 4:30pm on April 8. The shelling killed Saw Ki Bu, from May Pwae Hta village in Yeh Mu Plaw village tract in Lu Thaw Township, Mutraw (Papun) district. The…

The Free Burma Ranger, a frontline humanitarian group, reported on April 5 the military launched two airstrikes on Dwe Loe Township, Mutraw (Papun) District northern Karen State. On the same day as it announced its one-month ceasefire, Burma Army troops indiscriminately fired mortars into villages in Lu Thaw Township. The air strikes and Burma Army bombardments that began on 27th…

A local aid worker told Karen News since the airstrikes people live in fear of the Burma Army attacks and bombing raids from the air. “We estimates that there are now a total of 20,000 displaced villagers in the whole Mutraw district. This is since the beginning of the year.” Burma Army ground attacks began in December 2020 and the…

The villagers who were forced back by the Thai authorities to the Burma side of the border are now too afraid to go back to their homes in Ei Tu Hta because of the threat of airstrikes and are now taking refuge in makeshift jungle hideouts. Thai news media reported the Thai government said they were not prepared to interfere…