"It's not a surrender" - KNU/KNLA Peace Council

The KNU/KNLA Peace Council, a splinter Karen rebel group led by Brig-Gen Htay Maung, said it has not surrendered to the Burmese Army but has changed its strategy by first striking a peace deal.
Major Maung Kyaw, liaison officer of the Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council, said no negotiation can be possible without first reaching a peace agreement. But it does not mean surrendering of arms.
"Our principle is that there can be no dialogue and no development as long as there is continuous fighting. So, we need to find a way to stop this fighting," Kyaw told Mizzima over telephone.
Kyaw added that despite criticism that the KNU/KNLA Peace Council is following a new strategy, it does not mean that "we are surrendering."
Brig-Gen Htay Maung, commander of the 7th brigade KNLA, the armed wing of the KNU, and a team of delegates on January 3 left for Rangoon for peace talks with the Burmese Army without the approval of the KNU central committee.
Following the trip, the KNU central committee dismissed Brig-Gen Htay Maung from his post for flouting the central committee's orders and trying to negotiate peace with the Burmese military junta without consulting the KNU.
However, Brig-Gen Htay Maung and his group continued the peace process and formed the KNU/KNLA Peace Council on January 31. The Peace Council also declared that a peace deal has been struck with the Burmese junta and went back to Toh Kaw Koe village, Kawkareik Township , Karen State with its followers.
Kyaw said, members of the Peace Council are able to move freely in the Toh Kaw Koe area, where the Karen revolutionary leader Saw Ba U Gyi had died in August 1950, without fear of military attacks and are able to hoist the Karen national flag.
"But we are in no way going to give up our arms," said Kyaw adding that the word "surrender" used by a few media groups to label the Peace Council, was disgusting.
"It's been 58 years that we have been fighting. This is not child's play and just to say we are surrendering is ridiculous," said Kyaw.
Kyaw said following the agreement between the Peace Council and the junta for a peace deal, the lives of Karen people in the area had been peaceful with development projects on the anvil.
Currently Brig-Gen Htay Maung is demanding that the Burmese junta build a channel that will supply water to the vast fields in the peace zone, said Kyaw.

Mizzima
30-3-07

Kidnapped Thai Officers Released by Karen Rebel Army

Two kidnapped Thai border patrol policemen were released Monday by the Democratic Buddhist Karen Army after being detained for five days.
Sources say the kidnappings were probably related to a dispute between the DBKA and the KNU army.
According to Kwekalu, a Karen online news Web site, a senior KNU official on the border who asked not to be identified said the DKBA detained the two border policemen because it wanted to exchange them for three Karen National Liberation Army officers who work in the DKBA-controlled area.
Police Sub-Lt Chavalit Rattanaphan and Lance Cpl Prayongyuth Panthang were kidnapped by the DBKA on Thursday.
The general secretary of the Karen National Union, Mahn Sha, told The Irrawaddy that the kidnapping incident was related to illicit drugs, logging and human trafficking.
Thai Third Army commander Lt-Gen Jiradet Kocharat told a press conference on Monday in Pitsanuloke Province the kidnapped officers arrived home safely through the coordinated efforts of Thai security forces and local administrative officials of the Township Border Committee of Mae Sot District and Myawaddy Township of Burma. 
Jiradet said the two policemen were invited to Burma by DKBA officials on Thursday and did not return to their base in Ban Jakae in the Sangkhlaburi District of Kanchanaburi Province. The officers were reported as kidnapped.
Some border sources had earlier claimed the DBKA kidnapping was an elaborate deal to put pressure on the KNU. The rival groups have frequently clashed since the DKBA broke with the KNU and joined with the Burmese military government in 1995.
On March 8, there was fighting between KNU Battalion 201 and DKBA battalions 907 and 906.
DKBA sources said commander Hnoke Khan Hmwe has been summoned to headquarters in Myaing Gyi Ngu, Karen State, regarding the latest incident and recent clashes with the KNU.
Security remains tight in the area with numerous border checkpoints remained closed on Monday.
Officials said the Thai First Army and the Surasi Task Force, the policemen's unit, are investigating.

Shah Paung & Sai Silp
Irrawaddy
26/03/07
Image: Na Kum Mui - Paul Keenan - KHCPS Archive

Burma releases two Thai policemen

Tak (TNA) - Two Thai border patrol police who were detained by a Karen Buddhist faction allied to the Burmese military junta since last Thursday were released Monday morning.

The two policemen - Pol Sub-Lt Chavalit Rattanaphan and Pol L/C Prayongyuth Panthang — crossed the border at Valley Village crossing point at the Phop Phra border district of Tak
province.

Pol Sub-Lt Chavalit said he had been treated well while being held captive. He also thanked those who helped secure his release.

The two officers were detained by members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) last Thursday at the western Thai border district of Sangkhlaburi in Kanchanaburi province.

First Army Region commander Lt-Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said Sunday that the Third Army Region, which is responsible for security affairs in the North, had been assigned to negotiate the release of the two border patrol police officers.

Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, chairman of the Council for National Security (CNS) and Army commander, said the two police officers were taken to Phitsanulok province for debriefing. He also said that Gen Prayuth will report to him the result of investigation of the incident.

Meanwhile, Col Surin Nilluang, deputy commander of the Surasi Task Force in Prachaup Khiri Khan province, confirmed that Singkhon border checkpoint will reopen at 1 pm Monday after being closed temporarily along with main Burma border checkpoints since Saturday, as a way to pressure Rangoon to release the policemen.

Bangkok Post
26/03/07
Image:DKBA 907 Troops on parade at Waley - Paul Keenan - KHCPS

Karen Splinter Group Offered Money to Members

Karen villagers and former soldiers from the Karen National Union who recently joined a splinter group have returned to the group, claiming they left only after they were promised money by the breakaway faction, members of the group said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Seventeen Karen, comprising former residents of Mae La refugee camp and three KNU soldiers, made the claim at a press conference in KNU’s 7th Brigade near the Thai-Burmese border.
The villagers and soldiers left the KNU in February to join the splinter group Karen National Union/Karen National Liberation Army Peace Council, led by former Commander of 7th Brigade Brig-Gen Htain Maung.
The splinter group settled in Toh Kaw Koe village in Burma Army-controlled territory of Karen State, where it has since established its headquarters, and has been officially welcomed by Burma’s military government.
According to Karen Information Center representative Nan Htoo Htoo, who attended the press conference, the villagers and soldiers were persuaded to follow the splinter group for at least a week by the offer of 500 baht (about US $15). The group said they were paid less than the promised amount and told they could not return to KNU-controlled territory.
KNU General Secretary Mahn Sha said that about 60 people, including civilians, were asked to follow Htain Maung’s breakaway faction when it left the KNU on February 11.
The group of seventeen Karen returned to the KNU in early March. More than 40 more are said to have fled the splinter group since February.
Sources close to the KNU and another splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, Burmese military officials have ordered Htain Maung to dismiss any member whose political views differ from those of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

Shah Paung
Irrawaddy
March 21, 2007

Image: KHCPS

Karen Villagers Demonstrate against Armed Conflict

More than 600 Karen on Sunday took the unusual step of staging a public protest to demand armed groups stop fighting because it threatens the peaceful life of the villagers.
The protest was held at Vallay in Karen State, one of the villages caught up in recent fighting between the Karen National Union and a Burmese junta-backed Karen splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army. The village is opposite to Umphang district in Thailand’s Tak Province.
The demonstrators wore traditional Karen dress and carried mattocks, axes and knifes, according to witnesses.
The group also carried placards that called for peace, freedom to work and the cessation of fighting by armed groups, including the DKBA, the KNU and Burmese government troops. The villagers also called on armed groups to stop the use of forced labor.
One protestor told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the demonstration was organized by the leaders of 19 villages in the affected area because whenever fighting broke out, the villagers were victims of the fighting, including deaths and injuries from exchanges of gunfire and from landmines planted by both sides.
One Karen priest in his 30s was killed in the fighting on March 8.
The protest took about a half day. At first, the group planned to march to Phop Phra in Thailand, but the Thai army blocked them at a bridge and authorities would not allow them to enter the country.
On March 8, Burmese soldiers joined operations with DKBA units and attacked the 201 Battalion of the Karen National Liberation Army near Vallay Kee village. Several hundred Karen villagers fled to Thailand during the fighting.
 
According to the KNU, two KNU soldiers were killed and two were injured. It said one KNU soldier was arrested by the DKBA. The KNU claims about 10 DKBA soldiers were killed and another 10 were injured.
 
Border sources said the recent DKBA attacks were a response to a late February attack by KNLA Battalion 201, which killed one DKBA soldier.
A school teacher in Vallay village said that some residents have returned to their homes, but others are still hiding in the jungle because they fear the fighting will return.
"We have to be careful, especially at night, because the situation is not good," a teacher said. “But we are lucky that students are not here any more.”

Shah Paung
Irrawaddy
March 19, 2007

Graphic: KHCPS

Myanmar military offensive leaves 14 dead, 300 ethnic Karen flee to Thailand

Clashes between the Myanmar military and ethnic Karen rebels killed 14 people and forced at least 300 civilians to flee into neighboring Thailand, a rebel spokesman and a Thai military official said Saturday.

The Myanmar military and the pro-junta Democratic Karen Buddhist Army launched attacks Thursday against the Karen National Union, said David Thaw, a spokesman in Thailand for the KNU, the largest group representing the Karen.
Thaw said 10 Myanmar troops and four rebel soldiers were killed in the clashes. He said the military was “trying to pressure the KNU into returning to the negotiating table.”
Col. Phanu Wacharopas, a Thai military commander in charge of border districts in Tak province, said 300 people had fled across the border into Thailand.
Phanu said most of the refugees were staying in a Buddhist monastery in Umphang district near the border. He said the fighting had stopped and the refugees would probably return home soon.
A spokesman for the junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma, was not immediately available for comment.
The KNU has been fighting for half a century for greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government.
Cease-fire talks between the KNU and the government broke down in 2004, and the Myanmar army launched a major offensive in Karen State in eastern Myanmar in 2005. Since then, it has repeatedly tried to bring KNU members to the bargaining table in an effort to split the group.
The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, the main aid agency caring for tens of thousands of refugees along the Thai-Myanmar frontier, estimates that in 2006 alone the violence forced 82,000 people to leave their homes.

Mon 12 Mar 2007 
Associated Press

Image: DKBA 907 Battalion troops - Paul Keenan - KHCPS Archive

Burma Army and DKBA likely to launch fresh offensive

The joint forces of the Burma Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army are gearing up to lunch a fresh offensive on the Karen National Union, according to KNU officials.

Posts under battalion 201 of the Karen National Liberation Army, located 30 kilometres from Myawaddy, near the Thai-Burma border might be the target of the combined units of the military junta and cease-fire group, the DKBA, said KNU secretary Man Shar.
“I heard they will attack 201. They may want to control the territory,” he said.
The BBC Burmese service quoted a Thai security official as saying two camps in Myawaddy-Watlaykhi and Maekyan would be attacked any time.
Local sources said Thai security forces are concerned about the possible attack and monitoring the situation closely.
On March 8 and 9, DKBA forces backed by the government troops attacked a KNU post. At least 10 people from both sides have been killed.
Almost 200 Karen refugees who escaped the fighting have been given shelter in a monastery on the Thai-Burma border.
Watlaykhi is situated 80 kilometres south of Maesot in Thailand and Maekyan is 120 kilometres away.

Than Htike Oo
Mon 12 Mar 2007 
Mizzima News

Image: KNLA 201 Battalion HQ, Waley Kee - Paul Keenan - KHCPS Archive

Hundreds displaced by Karen attacks

Between 200 and 500 Karen villagers from Dooplaya district have been forced to flee to Thailand after fresh fighting between the Karen National Union, the Burmese military and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
The Burmese military and the DKBA launched a joint attack on the KNU’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, last Thursday causing casualties in all three groups, KNU foreign affairs spokesperson David Htaw told DVB.
The Burmese military and the DKBA are reportedly trying to seize the KNLA Division 201’s base. Sources in the area told DVB late last week that the fighting was expected to continue.
“The SPDC and DKBA troops jointly attacked the camp this morning . . . the fighting is still going on and the villagers don’t dare to return to their homes,” David Htaw said.
The DKBA was not immediately available for comment on the fresh fighting. Estimates on how many villagers have been displaced vary from 200 to 500, with the Free Burma Rangers—a grassroots humanitarian group operating in Karen State—saying about 500 had fled to Thailand.
“Local leaders reported that more Burma Army troops are on the way to that area and that the attacks are expected to continue,” an FBR statement on the attacks said.

DVB
11-03-07

KNU leader briefs Oslo meeting on Burma conflict

Colonel Nada Mya, son of the late Karen National Union leader Bo Mya, addressed a group of prominent politicians and diplomats in Norway on Thursday, wearing full KNU uniform.
Nada Mya told an audience a seminar at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, organised by the Foundation Northern Alliance, that the lower ranks of the Burmese military were struggling under poor economic conditions.
“We talked about [the SPDC] soldiers poor food and living conditions while senior leader are at Pyinmana enjoying their privileges. Basic privates among the SPDC troops are not willing to fight any more,” Nada Mya told DVB.
“This shows the effectiveness of sanctions laid against the Burmese government. SPDC forces used to be very strong. There used to be about 600 soldiers in each battalion. But now they can’t afford to feed them there’s only 100 soldiers per battalion.”
Nada Mya also said he also held no prejudices against the ethnic majority Burmans despite being locked in a fight against the predominantly Bama Burmese military for autonomy.
“I love Burmese people. I am involved in this fight because I love Burmese people. Not because I hate them. There are times when I talk to Burmese troops on air and we question our reasons for fighting each other,” he said.

DVB
09-03-07

KNU camp attacked by Burma Army and DKBA troops

A camp of the Karen National Union near the Thai-Burma border was attacked by troops of the Burmese Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army early today morning.
The combined force of the military junta and the cease-fire pro-junta DKBA launched its offensive on the Maekalawkhi camp, 30 kilometres from Myawaddy close to the border.
''The fighting broke out around 5:30 a.m. and continued for about an hour,'' said Pado Man Shar, spokesperson of KNU, the ethnic rebel group fighting the military junta for self-determination.
''There were about 50 or 60 soldiers from their side. But I don't have details,'' he said.
Man Shar was hesitant about ruling out further attacks. Causalities and injuries have not been determined yet.

The KNU has been fighting against the Central government for more than five decades and has failed to reach a cease-fire agreement although both sides have tried repeatedly.

Mizzima
08-03-07

Karen National Union 7th Brigade Denies Surrender To Myanmar Junta

A Karen National Union (KNU) faction that entered into peace negotations with Myanmar's junta last month denies that it has surrendered, diplomats and academic who visited the rebel faction said on Friday.

"It was not surrender," KNU spokesman Saw Htay Maung, 77, told a gathering of journalists, diplomats and European academics who on Thursday attended a press conference at Htotkawkoe village, Kawkareik township in the Karen State.

"We still defend the Karen. The Karen decide their own political destiny. And the Karen State must be recognized within the country as well as internationally," Saw Htay Maung told the gathering.

On February 11 the KNU 7th Brigade led by Brigadier General Htein Maung entered into peace negotiations with Myanmar's military regime, prompting some to accuse the faction of surrendering.

Saw Htay Maung said the faction had decided to enter into peace talks with the government because their people were tired of war. "People are the most vulnerable from the lack peace, establishment of which is the responsibility of the whole world," said Saw, who joined the KNU at the age of 17.

Since signing the peace agreement some 450 7th Brigade troops have moved to Htotkawkoe where the government has provided their families with farm land, livestock and assistance in the construction of churches and health clinics, observers said.

"They seem totally content with the peace agreement they have signed and at the same time they are maintaining their independence," said Paul Pasch, the Myanmar representative for the Freidrich-Ebert Foundation. The foundation organized a visit to the camp by 10 European academics to the Karen camp, including Robert Taylor, an expert on Myanmar's recent history.

"These are the first seeds for sustainable development and hopefully for a lasting peace agreement," said Pasch.

The 7th Brigade is only one faction within the KNU, which has been waging a guerrilla struggle against the central government for the independence of the Karen State since 1949.

There are an estimated 4,000 KNU troops still in the field against the junta.

Brigadier General Htein Maung was a close associate of former KNU leader Bo Mya, who died in January.

The KNU is one of the last ethnic minority insurgencies to enter into a peace agreements with the ruling junta, which has monopolized politcal power since it crushed a pro-democracy movement in 1988 leaving an estimated 3,000 people dead.

The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the junta styles itself, allowed a general election in 1990 but then denied power to the National League of Democracy when it won the polls by a landslide.

Instead, the junta has launched a National Convention process to draft a new constitution and prepare for a new election.

"They have not decided yet whether they will send representatives to the next session of the National Convention," said Pasch, of the KNU 7th Brigade.

© 2007 DPA
02/03/07
www.playfuls.com

UN rights expert calls for aid to Karen State

United Nations special human rights rapporteur to Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has called for immediate humanitarian access to conflict zones in the country.
As Burmese military attacks against the Karen National Union continue to cause mass internal displacement, food insecurity and health crises in Karen State, Pinheiro called on the government to allow aid groups to help affected communities.
“Humanitarian assistance should not be made hostage of politics . . . It would be a terrible mistake to wait for the political normalization of [Burma] to help and to empower the affected communities and their representatives,” Pinheiro said in a statement on Friday.
Both the KNU and the Karen Women’s Organization hailed Pinheiro’s statement today, saying it was vital that aid be directed into Burma’s conflict zones.
Naw Blooming Night Zan, joint general secretary of the KWO told DVB today there were about 25,000 internally displaced Karen hiding in the jungle that were in desperate need of assistance.
“They’ve got no village to stay in, no food and no cultivation. They do not dare go back to their villages because there were mines planted everywhere,” Naw Blooming Night Zan said.
“If [aid groups] will be allowed into Karen State, that'd be good. They do need to go in because only then will they witnessing the truth we have been talking about.”
According to the KNU, the Burmese military is continuing to mobilise troops to attack the rebel group. KNU joint secretary Saw David Takapaw said battles between the group’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, and the Burmese military continued every day.
“They burn down villages, rape and kill people. As we have limited numbers of troops, we couldn't protect all of [the villagers],” he said.

DVB
27/02/07