Karen

The United Nationalities Federal Council said the recent letter from Burma’s President, Thein Sein’s announcing a countrywide ceasefire was unacceptable. The letter urged the ethnic armed groups to get in touch with their regional/state level governments. The UNFC’s responded by a letter addressed to President Thein Sein that stated that the government’s peace talks approach like this would not bring…

Burmese refugees in Umphiem camp in the northern Thai province of Tak have the chance to resettle to Japan in 2012. Saw Wah Htee, the chairman of the Umphiem refugee camp committee, spoke to Karen News and said the Japanese government representatives and officials from the United Nation High Commission for Refugee visited the camp in July and meet with…

Villagers in the east of Tavoy, southern Burma claim authorities have ignored their complaints against a Thai company and a Burma government joint venture mining operation that has been polluting their drinking water for a decade. A local villager from the affected area (who did not want to be named for his security) said. “I could no longer use water…

I can’t remember how many times the Karen National Union and other ethnic political organisations have been dismissed as losing, or being on the verge of defeat. In February 1950 General Ne Win boasted to international media that victory over the Karen ‘insurgents’ would be completed by May that year. The New York Times duly reported: “Defeat of rebels withdrawing…

“I was asked to speak at the 61st Karen Martyrs’ Day commemoration ceremony. Karen people came together to pay homage to their men, women and in some cases children, who had given their lives for their people. Emotions were high. Nearly all Karen people have lost someone they have loved in the struggle against the Burma military regime. At one…

For the first time in 15 years the Karen National Liberation Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army stood side-by-side to commemorate their fallen comrades at the 61st anniversary of Karen Martyrs’ Day. The historic event took place on August 12 at an area under the control of the Karen National Union in Kawkariek Township, Karen State. The DKBA broke…

The ethnic people of Burma are having a hard time. Burma Army soldiers are targeting women in the Kachin and Shan State for rape. Villagers are used as forced labour for the Burma Army. Development projects mean forced relocation and slave labour. Half a million ethnic people are displaced in eastern Burma. Village schools have been burnt, health care is…

The Karen National Union denied reports in Burma’s state controlled newspapers that claimed that on August 8 an attack by Karen fighters had wounded two children in Karen state. Major Saw Kler Doh, an office manager with the Karen National Liberation Army in Brigade 5, based in the Papun District blamed the incident on the Burma Army. Major Saw Kler…

I don’t think many people in the west have any real understanding of what it is like to be driven out of your country, to have to flee for your life, leaving your possessions, friends, everything you know behind you, and never knowing if or when you will ever being able to go back. As if that horrible experience isn’t…

Karen people gathered in the US, UK, Norway, Sweden, Asia, Canada and Ireland and in jungle bases back in their homeland on 12th August, to commemorate their 61st Martyr’s Day. Saw Ehna reports from Karen State. In a jungle base in Southern Burma, 400 supporters from the Karen National Union’s Mergui-Tavoy District office commemorated the 61st Karen Martyrs’ Day with…