---

 

DKBA 907 Battalion Mobilized

Eleven trucks of soldiers from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army—an ethnic army that has declared a ceasefire with the junta—were summoned by the Burmese authorities on Tuesday from Myawaddy, according to an anonymous source close to the group, adding that they would probably be used in the campaign of violence in Rangoon.
The source said, “DKBA Battalion 907 left in eleven trunks on Tuesday night, accompanied by their two senior leaders, Lt Col MoeTho and Col Ba Thein.”
He added that the DKBA leaders had been summoned to the Moulmein house of Brig Gen Thet Naing Win, Commander of Southeast Command of the State Peace and Development Council.
A Karen news agency, Kwekalu reported that about 400 DKBA soldiers set off quietly for Moulmein in Mon State and Pa-an in Karen State on Tuesday night.
Mahn Sha, General Secretary of the Karen National Union, supported the claims, saying that transportation of the DKBA troops was arranged by Col Myat Htun Oo from Military Affairs Security in Mae Sot.

Saw Yan Naing
Irrawaddy
27-9-07

SPDC accuses CIA in KNLA Commander’s Assassination

The State Peace and Development Council have accused the CIA of the assassination of the 18th Battalion commander of the KNLA. Lt. Col. Kyi Linn’s body was discovered in the Haungthayaw River in Kawkareik Township of Karen State on the 20th August with a bullet wound to the head.  

According to a recent article in the government controlled New Light of Myanmar, Kyi Linn was assassinated ‘under a CIA plot’ after returning to the 6th Brigade area after making peace negotiations with the regime. The article also claims that ‘…a US Army Brigadier General and a CIA officer arrived in an insurgent camp at the border and are controlling and supervising programmes to provide military aids and launch sabotage.’

According to KNLA sources the commander had agreed to remain loyal to the KNLA and the KNU, however there is speculation that he had been buying time before negotiating an agreement with the regime. Kyi Linn is the second KNLA commander to be assassinated this year. Maj. Tha Shee, a soldier attached to the GHQ/KNU Defence dept., was gunned down near Mae La refugee camp on the 14th August.

KHCPS
11-9-07

Thai worker killed in bomb attack in Burma

A Thai worker for the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) at the construction site of the Hat Gyi dam in Burma died in a grenade attack on Sunday, a security source said on Monday.

At about 7pm Sunday evening, two men on a motorbike threw two grenades into the Egat camp where some 40 workers lived, the source said. The bomb killed Saman (family name unknown) instantly and injured others but the number of injuries remains unclear.
The Hat Gyi dam is part of a series of dams which Thailand and Burma have planned to build on the Salween River since 2005 in order to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity. The Hat Gyi will be the first to be completed in five or six years, with a capacity of 1,200 MW.
The remaining Thai workers at the construction site are reportedly on their way home due to fears for their safety.
The dam has been opposed by a number of people, notably armed groups along the border between Thailand and Burma. Sunday’s bomb was not the first.  In May, a bomb exploded at the site when workers were washing up after work. Two bombs were planted but only one exploded.
The Burmese junta State Peace and Development Council accused the rebel group Karen National Union of being responsible for the explosion.

The Nation
3-9-07

Internal Links
Thai Egat Team Discuss Dam Project with KNU - Irrawaddy Article 23-8-07

KNLA commander’s body found in river with bullet wound to head

The body of the commander of the 18th Battalion of the Karen National Liberation Army was found with a bullet wound to the head in the Haungthayaw River in Kawkareik Township of Karen State on August 20.

The commander, Lt Col Kyi Linn, was reported missing by the Karen National Union 6th Brigade on August 16, amid speculation that he had been involved in a boat accident. His body was found entangled in fishing net.
He had been shot in the head, according to a lieutenant colonel in the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army who asked to remain anonymous.
He said there are suspicions the commander was killed by his own soldiers. The DKBA broke away from the KNU in 1995.
Mahn Sha, the general secretary of the KNU, said the KNU has not confirmed the events surrounding Kyi Linn’s death.
Pictures of the body were widely available in the Burmese community in Mae Sot, Thailand.
Anonymous sources said unconfirmed reports speculate that he was shot by business partners in the logging business or by his own soldiers over a leadership dispute.
Kyi Linn was heavily engaged in the timber business, and he had also been holding meetings with officials from the Burmese State Peace and Development Council, the DKBA and other groups.
Kyi Linn owned two houses in villages near Kawkareik, but he usually lived at a home in Thounzethounsu Village. Villagers in the area are reluctant to speculate about how he died.
A former KNU soldier who lives in Kawkareik said Burmese army soldiers have repeatedly questioned him about the death, trying to establish the circumstances.
Kyi Linn was interviewed by The Irrawaddy on August 15. He said he had met with Lt Col Min Chit Oo of the Burmese Southeast Military Affairs Security department on August 11. He said he was not considering any plan to surrender to the Burmese military government.

Shah Paung
Irrawaddy
29/8/07

Internal Links
KNLA Deny Defection - BBC News report

More Than 1000 Karens Flee Their Homes

More than 1000 people have fled Burmese military attacks in northern Karen State since the start of the month, according to fresh reports from aid groups operating in the area.

A report released today by the Free Burma Rangers, a grass-roots relief group operating in several states in Burma, said that waves of Karen villagers had fled their homes in the face of attacks by troops from the military’s division 88 infantry battalions 83 and 77.

“Two villages have been burned down during the last ten days along the border of Toungoo and Papun districts of northern Karen State . . . Burma Army Light Infantry Division 88 has remained very active in this area,” the FBR report said.

“The Burma Army has also continued the rapid expansion of its road and military camp network which it uses to partition the areas it wishes to clear, squeezing the local population into increasingly smaller pockets and facilitating further attacks.”

The FBR report also said that villagers in Karen State’s Kyauk Kyi township faced ongoing forced relocation at the hands of the Burmese military and that several people had been maimed this month after stepping on Burmese army landmines.

DVB
27-08-07
Image: Villagers from the are of Saw Ka Der in Mon Township, hiding in a temporary shelter jungle after Burma Army attacks -FBR

External Links
Free Burma Rangers - Relief Team's latest report

Thai EGAT team discuss dam project with KNU

Thailand’s energy authority EGAT held talks with leaders of the Karen National Union on Thursday on a controversial proposal to build a dam on the Salween River, which has run into strong opposition by local villagers.

According to the Karen River Watch, the KNU gave EGAT permission last month to conduct a feasibility study on the proposed Hat Gyi dam. But the project has encountered heavy criticism and opposition by local authorities and villagers, who say the dam would threaten the livelihoods of more than 10 million people from 13 ethnic groups who depend on the river for their survival.
Thirty EGAT engineers and other workers began a three-month study program on July 3. Opposition to their work has held up progress.
An EGAT delegation at Thursday’s talks in the Thai border town of Mae Sot is understood to have appealed to the KNU to help the project proceed. The KNU’s Lt-Col Roger Khin said no decision had been taken at the meeting, and KNU leaders would now consult with other executive committee members. The EGAT delegation was promised a decision within two weeks, he said.
The KNU team at the two-hour meeting comprised Lt-Col Roger Khin, Col Htoo Htoo Lay, Gen Mu Tu and Col Soe Soe. The five-man EGAT team comprised mostly engineers, a KNU source said.
Naw Paw Gay Khu, a special consultant with the Karen River Watch, said: “I believe that the KNU will reach a decision based on the interests of the people, They (KNU) should listen to the people and work with them to stop these dam projects because they will have a long term impact.”
An earlier EGAT study of the Hat Gyi dam site, which began in May 2004, was interrupted when a surveyor with the authority died in a land mine incident.

Violet Cho
Irrawaddy
23/8/07

Graphic:: Salween Watch

External Links
Mizzima News - News article related to the initial surveying of the Dam area in 2007
Salween Watch - Website monitoring the progress of Dam activity on the Salween River

KNLA deny defection

A commander of the KNLA 6th Brigade has described the meeting between his group and the Burmese Army officials are just an attempt to reach a mutual understanding and confidence building.

Earlier, the commander Lt Col Kyi Lin is said to be preparing to surrender to the Burmese government after a few meetings with the top brass Lt General Maung Bo in Kawkareik.
He admitted that his recent meeting with the Burmese military intelligence officials was done without the knowledge of the KNU Central Executive Committee in the interview with the BBC.

BBC Burmese Service:
Wed 15 Aug 2007 

One Death in Mae La Cholera Outbreak

An outbreak of cholera in Mae La refugee camp near the Thailand-Burma border has killed one woman, while nearly 40 others have tested positive for the disease, according to camp medical officials.

A medical staffer with the non-governmental organization Aide Médicale Internationale, which administers health services in Mae La, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that more than 30 cases of cholera have been diagnosed since July. The patients are now being treated in the camp hospital.

A Thai health team is also conducting tests for cholera in Mae La among residents suffering from chronic diarrhea, according to another health worker in the camp. The team has identified nine additional cases in the last two days and has referred them to the camp hospital.

Health officials are distributing medicine to curb the outbreak from the Thai Ministry of Interior office in Mae La camp, where authorities have recently banned the selling of beef, chicken, pork, duck and various homemade snacks.

Since late June, more than 60 camp residents have been admitted to the hospital, but not all have been confirmed as cholera patients.

Two additional cholera patients were identified at Dr Cynthia Maung’s Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot. one was transferred to Mae Sot General Hospital, a medic from Mae Tao’s In-patient Department told The Irrawaddy.

The medic added that several others admitted to the hospital in Mae Sot were suspected of suffering from cholera, as well as several more residents in Phop Phra district in Thailand, though Mae Sot General Hospital has refused to comment.

Public health officials in Thailand’s Tak Province announced in late July that more than 300 cases of cholera have been identified in border districts of the province in the last two months.

Shah Paung
Irrawaddy
9/8/07

Image: canbp

SPDC on propaganda offensive

The State Peace and Development Council has increased its propaganda war against the KNU recently in a number of articles published in Burmese in the Myama Alin and Kyemon. The articles which have been reprinted in English in the New Light of Myanmar from the 28th - 30th July accuse the KNU of forcing people into refugee camps in Thailand and recounts a number of old accusations dating back to the 1950s.

Ina spectacular piece of paranoia they also state that the US repatriation programme for Karen refugees is part of a plan similar to that of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in which anti-Castro Cubans were used to attack Cuba in the early 60's. The articles have been extracted here for further reference (please not this is a .pdf document).

KHCPS
31st July 2007

Authorities restrict movement in refugee camp following assassination of KNU official

Thai authorities are restricting Burmese refugees from leaving a containment camp after a senior Karen National Union intelligence official was assassinated by an unknown armed group near the Mae Lah camp along the northern Thai-Burmese border.

According to Mae Lah residents, Thai officials have enforced restrictions on movements both exiting and entering the Mae Lah camp since Saturday.
On Friday evening, Maj Tha Shee, a long-time military intelligence officer in the Karen National Union, was killed near the refugee camp.
Adun Nuipakdee, a Thai district security official in Tasongyang District, said a second Karen soldier who accompanied Tha Shee died of his injuries following the attack.
He said the 17th Regiment Infantry Task Force has stepped up security in the area.
Sources in the area said it’s likely Tha Shee was assassinated by members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a splinter group of the KNU.
However, other Karen sources said that Thai authorities suspect he may have been killed by people from his own organization. KNU sources said an investigation is underway.

Violet Cho
Irrawaddy
16-7-07

Military builds new Karen bases with forced labour

Burma Army battalions under the second command’s headquarters have reportedly forced villagers to build more than five new military camps in Karen State’s Taung-ngu district.
Residents told DVB that Burmese troops had forced them to help build the outposts and had ordered them to act as porters during the construction.
“Also the villagers were forced to collect wood for them, work on the camp construction and clear mines,” one villager, Saw Taw Oo, said.
“Now, even though the construction is finished, they are still demanding ten villagers to work at the camps everyday.”
Most of the civilians recruited for the forced labour by the military were reportedly from the Tate Phu area, where six villages house about 500 people.
Saw Taw Oo also said that several villagers had been shot by the Burmese military’s light infantry battalion 30 and that four other civilians, including two seventeen-year-old girls had been kidnapped by the troops.
“They opened fire in Htantabin township and killed 60-year-old Saw Pho Thee from Kyauk Sin Taung on the spot and they injured a man who was 25,” he said.

DVB
12-7-07

Karen villagers accuse DKBA of forced relocation

Karen villagers told DVB today that the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army had forced them out of their villages as a result of ongoing fighting with the Karen Nation Union.

Villagers near Kawkareik township, were reportedly ordered by the DKBA to leave their properties by July 9.
“The DKBA said we had to start moving by the 9th. We are supposed to move to a place that is about three hours away,” one villager said.
The DKBA confirmed today that they had asked the villagers to move, saying that it was because they needed to clear the land for use against the KNU. Seven villages, comprising more than 300 people have been ordered to move.
“We are just clearing the area because there are thieves and robbers,” a DKBA officer said, adding that the villagers were not to blame for the orders to move.
But villagers said they did not want to leave their land since their crops were already into the monsoon season and they would lose their livelihood if they were forced to abandon them.

The Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People said force relocations were common across Karen State, with more than 90 villages forced to relocate last year.

 

DVB
11-7-07

Editorial: Tennessarim – nuclear fuelled

A Russian survey team, accompanied by the Burmese military, has been spotted conducting a survey in Tenessarim by KNU intelligence operatives according to this month’s issue of the Irrawaddy. The article quotes unnamed Karen sources as saying that the commander of 505 Artillery Division, along with five Russian experts in radar and air defense, conducted the survey in late May near Maw Valley in the Mergui [Myeik] district of Tenassarim Division, which borders Thailand.

It is interesting to note however the coincidence between what is ostensibly identified as a location for a new air defence system and also the possible area where uranium deposits are likely to be mined. Russia’s federal atomic energy agency Rosoton recently made headlines when it confirmed it was going to build a 10 megawatt nuclear reactor in the country.

While fears have largely been due to the international communities’ concerns over the regime’s possible development of a nuclear capacity, on the ground in areas where uranium is to be mined the increase in Human rights abuses, as evidenced during the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline is likely to be ten-fold. Tens of thousands of villagers have already been displaced in northern Karen state during an offensive designed to further subjugate the local Karen population. 

Similarly the number of attacks by the SPDC and its allies the DKBA in areas bordering Thailand on Burma’s eastern border in KNU 6th and 7th Brigade has also risen. A further spread of the offensive to include Tennessarim, KNU 4th Brigade, opposite Thailand’s Sangkhlaburi seems now even more likely as the SPDC not only seeks to further control and enslave its ethnic minorities but also develops a nuclear capability. Sadly, the peace the ethnic minorities have constantly sought seems even further away from being realized.

KHCPS
8-7-07

Military offensive must stop for genuine political solution: KNU

If the Burmese military junta is serious about solving the political problems which besiege the nation, the Burmese Army "should stop attacking us", the Karen National Union said today.

KNU, the rebel outfit, which has been fighting the military dictatorship in Burma for over five decades, the longest period of insurgency, said it had been attacked nearly 2,000 times during a span of just one year.

The KNU, citing a recent survey of deaths and clashes, said, it suffered nearly 2000 onslaughts during June 2006 to June 2007 and at least 450 Burma Army and 20 members of the Karen National Liberation Army, its armed wing, died. Another 20 were injured during the conflict.

Pado Man Sha, General Secretary of KNU, said in order to find a genuine political solution and to initiate a free and fair dialogue, all offensives must stop forthwith.

"More over they [the junta] should release all political prisoners, and should not try to control political parties. Then we can start heading towards political reconciliation. But what is happening is just the opposite. They are doing whatever they want and launching sporadic attacks. So, we can see that the junta is not changing its ways" Man Sha said.

In the latest series of attacks, last night at about 10 p.m. the 907th battalion of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which is frequently reported to have aided the Burma Army in its offensives, attacked a village, located under the control of the KNLA Brigade 6, which is based about 10 kilometres from Myawaddy, a Thai-Burmese border town.

While the DKBA's attack was targeted at the KNLA Brigade 6, Man Sha said there were no members of the KNLA brigade 6 present there.
Since February 2007 till date, the KNU faced at least 20 attacks, where at least 30 DKBA troops and three KNU soldiers died with three more KNU members wounded, Man Sha said.

Than Htike Oo
Mizzima
6-7-07

KNLA kills nine Burmese soldiers injures ten

Nine Burmese soldiers were killed and 10 injured in a fire fight on July 2 between the Burma Army and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in Three Pagoda Pass (TPP) township areas, according to ethnic ceasefire groups in TPP. The KNLA is the military wing of the KNU.
 
Karen National Union (KNU) Secretary-General Phado Mahn Sha confirmed the casualties on the Burma Army side but claimed none of their soldiers were injured. 
 
IMNA contacted the U Tin Win, Chairman of Township Peace and Development Council in TPP, to confirm the deaths. But he refused to confirm and avoided giving the contact number of the person in charge of the military in the region.
  
The clash occurred between the Burmese Infantry Battalion No.308 and KNLA troops No.16 under Brigade 6 control areas. The fire fight lasted half an hour between Toung-zun village and Mezali village, TPP Township. 
 
"The manner in which they kept attacking us, proves their statements on reconciliation means nothing. And we are concerned about the people every time clashes occur in these areas," Phado Mahn Sha said.  
"Now people in the areas where battles occur are not allowed to go outside their villages," he added.
 
Recently, fighting between the Burmese military and KNLA has intensified, occurring every week and every day, said Phado Mahn Sha.
 
The KNLA one of the stronger ethnic armed groups has been fighting the Burmese junta for over half a century for independence of Karen state in Burma .

IMNA
6-7-07

Landmine death toll rises in Karen state

The number of people killed by landmines in Karen State has increased dramatically this year as tensions continue between rival Karen rebels, according to staff at the Mae Tao clinic on the Thai-Burma border.

Saw Eh Thamwe, the coordinator of the clinic’s mine victim department, said that the clinic had treated 16 people injured by landmines in June alone and that increased tensions between the Karen National Union and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army were to blame.
“This year has the highest number of land-mine cases due to intensified fighting. in previous years, there were as few as ten landmine cases a year but in the first six months of this year we had 30 cases,” Saw Eh Thamwe said.
Married couple U Pho Htin and Daw La Pyait from Maw Htoo Tha Lae village near Myawaddy were bought to the clinic yesterday after they were injured by a landmine while gathering bamboo shoots in the jungle in the early morning.

“The wife lost both of her legs and her husband has gone blind. Because their wounds were quite serious we have sent them to the Mae Sot hospital with the assistance of the [International Committee of the Red Cross,” Saw Eh Thamwe said.

DVB
5-7-07

New Statistics show military cost of conflict – Burma Army taking heavy losses

A summary report on military activities from June 1st 2006 – 31st May 2007 shows the military costs of an ongoing offensive in Karen state. The report, issued by the Karen National Union’s Information Department, details the losses to all three sides in the conflict, the SPDC, DKBA and KNLA, in an offensive launched in February 2006 aimed at further subjugating the civilian populace in Northern Karen State.

The SPDC has lost over 424 soldiers and seen 1248 wounded according to the figures which also record the SPDC- allied Democratic Kayin (Karen) Buddhist Army has losing 44 men and 55 wounded. While the majority of losses for the SPDC are in the northern brigade areas particularly Toungoo, Papun and Nyaunglebin the DKBA figures show the conflict intensifying along the eastern border with Thailand with over 36 of the 44 killed in 6th and 7th Brigades.

The Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Karen National Union, suffered 15 dead and 15 wounded according to the report. However, such figures are set to increase as the KNLA, forced with an increasingly volatile situation along the border, increases attacks on the DKBA and their SPDC allies to limit further attacks on an ever-growing IDP population forced to shelter just inside the eastern border.


KHCPS
3-7-07

DKBA claim civilian deaths in latest clash

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army said on the weekend that two civilians, including a 10-year-old child, had been killed last Thursday during a clash with Karen National Union special forces.

According to the DKBA, the civilians were caught in cross fire when the Karen National Liberation Army’s brigade six led by Hla Min attacked DKBA troops in Myanyanigone village, west of the Thai-Burma border town of Myawaddy, at about 6pm.
“There were no casualties among our troops but two villagers were killed when the KNU fired rounds into a grocery story,” an officer with the DKBA told DVB on condition of anonymity.
But KNU information officer colonel Saw Hla Ngwe said that KNLA troops reportedly only one civilian casualty as a result of the shootout.

“The area has a mixed population of the DKBA and villagers. The sixth brigade has outposts there but the DKBA is trying to dominate the area by stationing their troops in villages . . . So whenever there is a fight, there are always civilian casualties,” Saw Hla Ngwe said.


DVB
2-7-07

27 killed, 11 wounded in insurgent shooting spree Terrorist insurgents attack passenger buses in Kayin (Karen) and Kayah (Karenni) States

A monk was among the 10 innocent passengers killed in insurgent attack in Kayin State on 21 June morning.

When the passenger bus with plate No 5/Kha 9123 arrived at Alebote, terrorist insurgents attacked the car by blowing up a bomb and shooting randomly at it. Three passengers were also wounded in the shooting spree that killed 10 others while the bus was on its way to Thingannyinaung from Kawkareik at about 8.45 am.

In Kayah State also, terrorist insurgents brutally killed 17 passengers in another shooting spree that occurred at 6 pm on 22 June. Eight other passengers were also wounded in the insurgent attack on passenger bus bearing number plate 3Kha/5054 that was travelling from Mawchi to Loikaw.

The wounded were rushed to Myawady Township People's Hospital and Loikaw Township People's Hospital. Officials are also providing all necessary assistance to them. Tatmadaw columns of the respective regions are in hot pursuit of the terrorist insurgents.

Terrorist insurgents are trying to undermine national stability, community peace and the rule of law just for their survival and are bullying and killing innocent people.

 

 

New Light of Myanmar
24-6-07

27 Killed in Attacks on Buses in Burma

Insurgent groups in Burma have attacked passenger buses in two separate incidents that killed 27 people and injured 11, claiming the victims were armed troops, according to the government newspaper.
A report o­n the attacks in state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar said the victims were “innocent passengers,” killed by “terrorist insurgents.”

In the first attack, on June 21, 10 people, including a monk, died and three were injured when insurgents opened fire o­n a passenger bus traveling from Kawkareik to Thingan Nyinaung, in Karen State.
Mahn Sha, general secretary of the Karen National Union, which maintains an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, claimed the bus was carrying soldiers of the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army from Pa-an District to Myawaddy Township, opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

The second attack occurred the following day. Seventeen people were killed and eight others wounded in the attack o­n a bus traveling from Mawchi to the Karenni capital Loikaw, in eastern Burma.
An ethnic armed group, the Karenni National Progressive Party, which is active in  Karenni State, claimed responsibility for that attack and said those killed were soldiers of the Karenni Nationalities People’s Liberation Front. Five guns had been recovered in the attack, KNPP spokesman Raymond Htoo told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

Raymond Htoo claimed the KNPLF had commandeered a civilian bus to transport troops, a common tactic to avoid attack.
Clashes between rival ethnic armies and between armed ethnic groups and Burmese government troops have increased in recent weeks. Last Saturday, fighting broke out between the KNPP’s 1st Battalion and the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 135 in Karenni State, near the Shan State border. According to Raymond Htoo, two Burmese army soldier had died and o­ne was wounded.
Raymond Htoo said government troops had captured four KNPP soldiers in other action o­n June 20, near the Salween River in Karenni State.

Khun Sam
Irrawaddy
25-6-07

Nine die in clash between rival Karen rebels, says KNU

Fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army-the military wing of the Karen National Union-and the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army on Thursday in Burma’s Myawaddy left nine DKBA soldiers dead, according to KNU officials.

A KNLA special battalion attacked a car carrying troops from the DKBA’s 907 Battalion on a road from Pa-an District to Myawaddy Township in Karen State, just opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot.
“Nine DKBA soldiers were killed, including a lieutenant,” Maj Hla Ngwe, the secretary of the Karen National Union’s information department, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.
A source close to the DKBA’s 907 Battalion who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, confirmed to The Irrawaddy that the attack took place but said only two DKBA soldiers were killed and five others injured in the fighting.
“Nobody from our side [KNLA] was killed, but two soldiers were wounded,” said Mahn Sha, the general secretary of the KNU. “We also recovered seven guns from the DKBA.”
The latest fighting follows an earlier 2-hour battle on Monday in Kawkareik Township, Karen State, involving troops from KNLA 103 Battalion, DKBA 907 Battalion and soldiers of Burma’s Light Infantry Battalion 203, according to KNLA 103 Battalion’s Lt-Col Nay Say.
Clashes between rival ethnic armies and Burmese government troops have increased in recent weeks. Last Friday fighting broke out between the KNLA’s 201 Battalion and government troops in Karen State’s Brigade 6. Mahn Sha claimed that 14 Burmese soldiers were killed and an unknown number were wounded.

Saw Yan Naing
Irrawaddy
21-6-07

KNU, DKBA, Government Troops Clash near Border

New fighting between the Karen National Union, the government-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the government troops broke out o­n Monday near the Thailand-Burma border, according to a KNU official.
A 2-hour battle started about 6:20 a.m. and ended shortly after 8 a.m. involving the Karen National Liberation Army 103rd Battalion and the junta-backed DKBA 907th Battalion and the government Light Infantry 203rd Battalion in Kawkareik Township in Karen State, according to Lt-Col Nay Say of the KNLA 103rd Battalion. The KNLA is the military wing of the KNU.
Casualty figures were not available.
An earlier clash o­n Friday broke out between the government troops and the KNLA 201st Battalion. Mahn Sha, general secretary of the KNU, claimed that fourteen Burmese soldiers were killed and an unknown number were wounded.
 
Mahn Sha said that one KNLA soldier died and one was wounded. He added that after the battle, the KNU recovered five guns and a satellite telephone.
“They [the government troops] are increasing their attacks because they want to cleanup that area. They came closer and set up six new battalion camps near our KNLA 201 Battalion,” said Mahn Sha. “If they come close to us, the fighting must happen. We can’t be patient. We are very sensitive o­n our side.”
In the past month, more than 200 Karen refugees have fled from their homes in Taungoo District of Karen State to the Thailand-Burma border in order to seek safe shelter in Mae Hong Son Province-based refugee camps. They have been denied entry by the Thai authorities.
Since November 2006, following attacks by the Burmese army as many as 27,000 Karen civilians have been displaced from their homes in Karen State, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Saw Yan Naing
Irrawaddy
18-5-07

KNLAPC recruiting youths from Insein - KNU Statement

The KNU/KNLAPC has been recruiting youths from Karen areas in Rangoon according to a recent KNU statement. The group initially had problems when a number of those who originally joined defected back to the KNU. Approximately 60 KNLA troops joined the group at the beginning which had its numbers bolstered for its surrender ceremony by DKBA troops wearing KNLAPC uniforms. Since then its attempts to recruit have proven unsuccessful in an area which is predominantly a DKBA recruiting ground. The SPDC has apparantly given the go ahead for the group to recruit up to 500 troops however it is unlikely they would be able to achive this number. Full statement below:

When Bo Htin Mg defeatist group surrendered to the SPDC military clique on February 11, 2007, it tricked some ignorant children and civilians to go with it and some of those children and civilians have not yet returned to their parents and homes.
 
            As none of the KNLA unit went with the Bo Htin Mg defeatist group at the time of its surrender and all opposed its action, this group is currently trying to recruit, for its own self-interest, Karen youths by various means of trickery. 
 
            In an act of grotesquery, Bo Htin Mg defeatist group set up camp in Toekawkoe area, where the Karen martyrs had fallen, and as it confiscate the local Karen people’s land, forcibly collect money from them, supposedly for development, and use the people for forced labor work, the local Karen people are facing great difficulties.
 
            The group’s current attempt to recruit the ignorant Karen youths into its armed units is a dreadful new step by the group. It is very important for the entire Karen people and all the youths to know this odious and retrograde new step and denounce it. 
 
            Towards the end of May, Bo Htin Mg defeatist group recruited ignorant, straying and poor Karen youths in the quarters of Insein and Taungthugon, in Rangoon Division, and managed to get about 25 youths. As these Karen youths will be used as members of the group’s pocket army, to oppose the Karen national revolution and oppress and kill the Karen people, more heinous acts for the Karen people will ensue.         
 
            The entire Karen people must firmly uphold the aim to gain the right to decide their own destiny and strive on. We must determinedly oppose all the counter-revolutionary activities and activities using the Karen people as a stepping stone for selfserving interest. For that reason, we earnestly urge all of you to be politically alert and resolutely oppose all acts of treachery.   
 
 
KNU Supreme Headquarters

KHCPS
14/6/07

Two people killed during Karen rebel clash

Two people were reportedly killed on Saturday when several shells landed near the Burma border town of Myawaddy during a clash between the Karen National Union and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

A young man and a three-year-old child were killed and several other people were injured at about 11pm Saturday when an unknown number of artillery shells were fired into the Sit Hmudan Haung Asu village.
KNU spokesperson major Saw Hla Ngwe blamed the deaths on the DKBA’s 907th battalion.
“Kyaw San Oo, 33, U Khin Maung Aye, 53, and Ma Cho Mar, 23, were wounded and three-year-old Aung Thu and Ko Kyaw San, 25, were killed by the shells,” he said.
But the DKBA said that it was the KNU that was responsible for the deaths.
“They fired at us first. We were attacked by a KNU unit led by Officer Hla Min. We fired in return because we were attacked. We did not fire at the village only at their unit,” a DKBA source said.

DVB
11/6/07

KNLA Peace Council ‘Regrets’ Child Abduction Allegations

In a statement issued 9th June 2007, the KNU/KNLAPC has denied allegations made in a KHRG report,, that it abducted 9 children and forced them to become child soldiers.
The report ‘Child soldiers recruited to support expansion of KNU/KNLA Peace Council’ can be found here.
The full text of the statement is below.

 Obituary: Major Mary Ohn

Major Mary Ohn, 73, chairwomen of the Karen Refugee Committee and officer in the Karen National Liberation Army died yeterday afternoon at 2.30 pm Thai time from illness.

Major Mary was a resolute leader of strong spirit whose support and guidance helped many of the refugees through their times of trouble including the assualts on Huay Kalok refugee camp in 1997 and 1998 which saw the camp destroyed by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

She was the subject of a 2004 documentary 'Don't Fence Me In: Major Mary and the Karen refugees from Burma' directed by Ruth Grommit.

A funeral service will be held for her at Umpium Mai refugee camp tomorrow.

KHCPS
26/5/07
Image: Major Mary Ohn(fare right) Kawthoolei Organiser visiting and meeting refugees fleeing enemy atrocities in Thaton area, 1987 - KNU Bulletin

KNLA Peace Council ‘Regrets’ Child Abduction Allegations
In a statement issued 9th June 2007, the KNU/KNLAPC has denied allegations made in a KHRG report published on the 28th May 2007, that it abducted 9 children and forced them to become child soldiers.
The report ‘Child soldiers recruited to support expansion of KNU/KNLA Peace Council’ can be found here.
The full text of the statement is below.

 Karen villages torched by Burmese troops

Five villages that were home to more than 540 internally displaced Karen civilians have been fired on and burnt to the ground by the Burmese military.
The Karen National Union told DVB today that Burmese light infantry troops were behind the attacks that occurred earlier this month in the KNU’s brigade three area.
Baw Htoo from Lehwah village, which was also destroyed, said he and the other villagers were able to escape unharmed before their homes were torched.
“They started launching their attacks in areas around Shwe Kyin and Tatkyi townships on May 11. On the same day they burnt down the villages in the Lehwah area,” Baw Htoo said.
“I want to tell [the military] not to shoot us civilians, burn down our villages or our food supplies. It is more important for them to attack their target, the KNU,” he said.
The attacks follow a high number of strikes also committed by the military last month according to Saw Kyaw Bwe from the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People.
He said seven villages were fired on by Burmese troops in April and that one villager, a 61-year-old man, had been shot and killed by the Burma army. KNU general secretary Padoh Mahn Shar also told DVB that thousands of people had been forced to flee military attacks in Pha-pon district.
“They burnt down villages in Khae Oo, an area located on the edge of northern Pha-pon district. About 4200 villagers from 28 villages fled their homes,” Padoh Mahn Shar said.

DVB
24/05/07

 KNU outpost attacked

A Karen rebel outpost came under attack yesterday afternoon by joint forces of the Burmese Army and the ceasefire group – the Democratic Karen Buddhist Association.

The outpost of Brigade 6 of the military wing of the Karen National Union in Kawkayeik, Karen state close to the Thai-Burma border was under attack for an hour by government troops of 202 and 203 Infantry battalions backed by rival Karen troops.

"They were not able to come forward but they fired from big guns," said Pado Man Shar, KNU spokesperson.

KNU has been fighting against successive Burmese regimes for more than five decades for self-determination rights.

The allied troops are stationed around the battle zone but heavy rain has been coming in the way of their operation.

"If they come again, we will fight back", said Col. Nada Mya from KNU.

Mizzima
23/05/07

 Karen women’s rights defender honored

Zipporah Sein, a Thailand-based Karen women’s activist will receive the Perdita Huston Human Rights Award this year. Zipporah, the executive secretary of the Thai-Burmese border-based Karen Women’s Organization, works to aid women’s struggle for freedom, democracy and equality in Burma. She has documented human rights violations committed by the military government against ethnic Karen people and run safe houses in refugee camps, providing shelter and counseling to women and children facing violence. Last year, she was nominated by an international women’s organization for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Perdita Huston Human Rights Award was established in 2002 to commemorate American journalist and women’s rights activist Perdita Huston and to honor the life and work of others who are outstanding advocates for women’s rights in the Third World. This year’s recipients also included Samar Minallah of Pakistan and Bishnu Maya Pariyar of Nepal. The award ceremony will be held in Washington DC in June.

Irrawaddy
23/05/07

 Burmese refugees begin leaving for Oregon, other states

A group of 31 Burmese refugees left Tuesday for the United States, where they will be allowed to permanently settle after years of limbo in southeast Asia’s biggest refugee camp.
The Burmese are the first of several thousand members of the Karen ethnic minority expected to leave Thailand’s Mae La camp for a new life in the United States, the International Organization for Migration said.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been denounced by the United Nations for persistent human-rights violations against minorities in the eastern state of Karen, which borders Thailand. Last year, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waived certain restrictions on U.S. resettlement of Karen refugees.
Many of the Karen have lived for years in Thai refugee camps as a result of persecution by Myanmar’s ruling military junta. The Mae La camp was established in 1984 with an initial population of 1,100, but has since swelled to some 45,000 mainly Karen refugees.
IOM spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy said the refugees moving to the U.S. range in age from 2 to 68.
The organization is transporting them by bus to Bangkok, where they will be flown to their new U.S. homes in Oregon, Kentucky, Texas, New York, California, Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, Chauzy said.
The Karen are an example of a group that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is seeking to provide assistance for by changing immigration restrictions established after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The proposed policy shift would offer the Bush administration greater flexibility in deciding who can and cannot enter the U.S., a simplification of the current waiver system for allowing in those who fought repressive governments or were forced under duress into providing support for armed groups.
Last year, the U.S. government planned to accept 56,000 refugees; the actual number was 44,000, in large part due to the restrictions.
IOM could not say how many of the new refugees received the material support waiver from the U.S. government because the Geneva-based body was not part of the interviewing process. IOM moved nearly 2,500 Karen refugees from another Thai border camp, Tham Hin, to the United States last year.

Bradley S. Klapper
Associated Press
23/05/07

Unidentified intruder Killed at Hto Kaw Koe

An armed unidentified intruder was killed ouside the KNU/KNLAPC base at Hto Kaw Koe three days ago according to the group.

The man, apparantly wearing a DKBA uniform, was killed after opening fire on a security detail at around 9.30 in the morning. The man's identity is still unknown and further investigation is continuing to establish whether man was actually DKBA or in disguise.

KHCPS
10th May 2007
Image: Development work at Taw Koe Koe village - KNU/KNLAPC

Secret Kawthoolei Peace Commission formed: Statement

A new Karen organization, heavily critical of Karen armed groups, including the Karen National Union, was formed yesterday.
The so-called Kawthoolei Peace Leading Commission formed by some Karen veteran leaders and new generation commanders blamed the two Karen groups - the KNU and its faction the KNU-KNLA Peace Council of failing to usher in peace for the Karen people, said a email statement sent to Mizzima.
The secret organization, which does not mention the names of its members and does not have even a contact phone number, said in the statement that the KNU was a “political lackey” and that one of the longest surviving rebel groups in Southeast Asia is “fighting battles continuously which is producing refugees”.
The faction led by former KNU commander General Htay Maung who recently fought against the KNU has also been criticized and blamed by the Kawthoolei Commission.
“The KNU-KNLA Peace Council yet to prove that it can stop armed conflicts in Karen State. It has failed to release a statement appealing for peace,” the statement said.
Mizzima is not clear whether the Kawthoolei Commission actually exists or who could have hosted the letters on the internet.
Pado Man Shar, the spokesperson of the KNU said “We don’t know who distributed it and what this organization is and what their aims are. I can’t comment on it.”
Maung Kyaw, the liaison officer of the KNU-KNLA Peace Council said “Possibly, they are not impressed with the leadership living in Maesot (KNU) as well as with us.”
“I am sure this letter is not by DKBA…I guess someone is trying to crate more conflicts between us,” he added.
The editor of the Thai-Burma border based monthly publication on Karen affairs Karen Information Center said “There are some former members of the KNU living in other countries and they may have done it. Who knows?”
“I think they are aiming to bring about peace between the two groups and have distributed it. However, it should be open for discussion. It can be discussed. Otherwise, it is difficult to consider the matter,” she added.


Than Htike Oo
Mizzima
8th May 2007
Image: Karen Villgers protest in March 2007 - KNU/KNLAPC

Thousands of migrants gather on Thai-Burma border

More than 2,000 Burmese migrants arrived on the Thai-Burma border between April 18 and May 6, according to a member of the Karen Peace Force (KPF), who is in charge of the check point in Chong Zon, Three Pagodas Pass.

"The motorway is damaged as the rainy season has begun. Though fewer people are coming yet about 200 people still trickle in every day,” the officer said.

Reeling under mounting inflation and growing unemployment in Burma, many Burmese are on the look out for jobs in neighbouring countries.

There are Thai VIP buses for transporting people to the border and every day 10 VIP buses are filled with Burmese workers, said a resident in Three Pagodas Pass.

There are a thousand Burmese workers who don’t have Thai legal travel documents and they are waiting to sneak into Thailand.

After Burma’s water festival concludes every year, the border area is usually crowded with Burmese workers. However, this year there were many Burmese workers who came back to Thailand, along with many new people searching for work.


Lawiweng
Kao Wao
6th May 2007