Karen State

Government officials have stopped a Karen community group from holding a conference to discuss the impact of development projects on local communities. Youth Circle (YC), a civil society group working on youth and social issues had planned to release the findings of a report at a three-day conference it had organized in Hpa-an, Karen State last week. State government officials…

Villagers are worried for their health after 134 students were rushed to hospital after bird hunters may have poisoned community drinking water. Villagers fear that their drinking water was poisoned after 134 school students in Tha Yet Taw village in Kyondoe, Kawkareik Township became sick and had to be hospitalized after drinking water from a school pond on Wednesday, September…

Religion tensions have increased following the building of a Buddhist pagoda in the compound of a Christian church located in Hpa-an Township. Local community and religious leaders are worried that the construction of the pagoda and a temple in the compound of the Baptist church in Mezaing (Mae Sit Hta) village in Hpa-an township, Karen State will lead to increased…

The Karen Affairs Minister from the ruling government party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party from the Tanintharyi region resigned and joined the Kayin People’s Party. Saw Hervy, the current Karen Affairs Minister, told Karen News that he resigned from the USDP and will now contest the November 8 general election as a candidate for the Kayin People’s Party (KPP).…

Two senior members of the Karen State’s National League for Democracy resigned from the party to join the newly formed Karen Party. According to a Karen state NLD official, Saw Poe Wah, vice chairman of NLD Karen State, and Saw K’lue Htaw, administrative committee member from Hpa-an district resigned and will contest as representatives of the Karen National Party (KNP)…

The arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of land rights activists across Burma forms a new wave of prisoners of conscience, Human Rights Watch has said in a report damning of the government. The human rights organisation pointed to the arrest of a prominent land rights campaigner in Karen State as an example of a wider pattern of government persecution of its…

The Burma government has confirmed a state of emergency in fours states as heavy rain continues to lash central and western parts of the country. Reports estimate that as many as 46 people have been killed and over 200,000 displaced. The Thai government has promised to donate five million baht in aid. The Burma government run newspaper, the Global New…

Community-based-organizations in Karen State are coming together to increase their efforts to educate people about voting in the national elections to be held on November 8, 2015. A workshop on voter education, led by the Nyein Civil Organization was held together with Karen community-based-organizations at Hpa-an in the second week of July, to raise awareness about voting in the various…

A senior member of the Hpa-an based, Plone-Sgaw Democratic Party (PSDP), a Karen political party, said that they are planning to contest all constituencies in Karen State for the November 8, 2015 general election. Speaking to Karen News, the party’s vice-chairman Mahn Aung Pyi Soe said. “We will contest all 36 constituencies including places where Burman, Pa-o, Mon ethnic people…

As fighting continues between the Burma Army and Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, the government has come under fire from a senior Karen General for trying to “shut down the DKBA.” Major General Nerdah Bo Mya, head of the Karen National Defence Organisation in an exclusive interview with Karen News said that the “Burma Army wanted the DKBA off the highway,…