Karen Newsline: August Archive
About 200 Karen villagers flee in fear of imminent war
At least 200 Karen villagers from eastern Burma's Karen State have been forced to flee to the Thai-Burmese border since early this month in apprehension of imminent war between two Karen ethnic rebel forces, sources said.
Sources said, the villagers were forced to flee their villages as a result of fresh fighting between the Karen National Union (KNU) and its break away faction Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
The villagers were apprehensive that the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of KNU, would launch fresh attacks on DKBA's 907th battalion, which is based in Mawphokee, Mawphokalow and Kanelay villages in Kawkereik Township of Karen state, on the 26th of July.
"The KNU entered their villages in Mawphokee, Mawphokalow and Kanelay. The villagers then feared that there might be cross firing between the two factions and begun fleeing," a member of the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), who wished not to be named, told Mizzima.
Pado Saw Hla Ngwe, In-charge of KNU (HQ) Information Department, said when the KNLA soldiers came to know that members of DKBA had come into these villages, they fear that the DKBA is approaching to attack them.
"And some of the KNLA soldiers start talking of launching an advance attack before the DKBA does, and these rumors start spreading into the villages and they became panic and confuse and began to flee in fear of a pending war," he added.
While it is still unclear whether the villagers were able to return to their villages, sources said the DKBA soldiers had threatened them that they would destroy their corns and sesame fields if they do not come back.
These villages are located near the Wawlaykhee region, 45 kilometres South of Mae Sod on the Thai-Burmese border.
Sources said there are about 30 soldiers of DKBA 907th Battalion operating in these villages while the KNLA's 6th Brigade also maintain an active presence in the area.
On June 30, a joint force of DKBA's 907th Battalion and the Burmese Army launched an attack against an outpost of the KNLA's 201st Battalion, capturing the outpost. But the KNU said they were able to recaptured the outpost on the following day.
Than Htike Oo
Mizzima
30/07/08
Out of Myanmar
Having welcomed incoming waves of refugees from Vietnam, Tibet, Bosnia, and Africa over the last 20 years, Burlington-area residents would do well to get up to speed on the Karen.
The Karen (pronounced ka-REHN) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group who have fled the military government in Myanmar by the tens of thousands for refugee camps in adjoining countries and who are arriving in Vermont in rising numbers.
Two Karen families transplanted to Vermont this summer typify the huge cultural and economic challenges that refugees confront here. None of the four parents speaks English, and they didn’t know much more about the United States than they had managed to pick up from TV shows or in the refugee camp in Thailand where they spent the last 11 years.
That’s where the University of Vermont stepped in. With 120 apartments at Fort Ethan Allen assigned mostly to graduate and nontraditional students, and with some of the units vacant over the summer, UVM put both families up, rent free, until more permanent accommodations could be found.
According to Sharon Pitterson-Ogaldez, assistant director for apartments and family housing, six refugee families have stayed in UVM apartments this summer for up to three weeks. Three were from Myanmar — formerly Burma — and three from Iraq, which, with Bhutan, has become another major source of refugees in northern Vermont.
Last week, the two Karen families agreed to discuss their experiences with a reporter, through an interpreter. They assembled in a meeting room of UVM’s apartments and family housing complex at Fort Ethan Allen, although one family had already moved on to an apartment in Burlington.
The four parents, all in their 20s, came of age, married and had children in the No Po refugee camp, just across the border of Myanmar in northern Thailand. Much of what they knew of American society, they said, came from movies.
The most popular American movies in the refugee camp were action movies. Which ones?
“Rambo,” they said.
From camp to town house
There’s a reason “Rambo” was popular in the Karen refugee camp. The fourth film featuring Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo opened in January. The plot involves Rambo’s exploits to rescue Christian missionaries abducted by the Myanmar military after the missionaries provided humanitarian assistance to oppressed Karen villagers.
The conflict between Myanmar’s rulers and the Karen and other ethnic groups flared up soon after Myanmar’s independence in 1948 and has been called the longest-running civil war in the world. With the Karen playing a prominent role in the insurgency, their villages suffered repressive consequences, said So Khai, 26, who with his wife, Eh Mwee, 23, and their three children arrived in Vermont in June. Both fled into the jungle in 1997 after soldiers came through their villages shooting, they said.
Hei Poe, 29, who with his wife, Byu Na Moo, 23, and two children, are still living in a two-bedroom UVM apartment, said he fled after the military forced people in his village to build a railroad.
They all came from rice-growing farming families and were not members of the opposition, they said. So Khai, Eh Mwee, and Byu Na Moo went to school through the eighth grade.
They spoke in Burmese to the interpreter, Htun Sein, who has been in Vermont four years but does not speak Karen.
They said they preferred “Burma” to “Myanmar” — the national name the ruling junta adopted in 1989 — because they believed Burma to be a more inclusive term.
The hardest part of life in No Po, they said, was the shortage of food. The adult ration was about a pound a day of rice, and there wasn’t much else beyond fish paste and cooking oil, they said. For water, they had to line up at a well. About 10,000 people lived in the camp, they said, housed in closely set huts.
After more than a decade in these austere circumstances, suddenly they found themselves living this summer in a furnished UVM town house, with electric lights that work and with appliances — electric stove, refrigerator, washing machines — they’d never used before.
At the camp, they cooked over charcoal. Hei Poe’s first try cooking rice on the electric stove didn’t work out too well — it turned out too watery — but now he’s getting the hang of it.
Breathing room
The new housing arrangements required some adjustments on UVM’s part, too. New leases had to be drawn up. The housing staff at the complex, which already had an international flavor (tenants come from 25 countries), took the new arrivals in stride and helped get them settled, Pitterson-Ogaldez said.
“It’s a wonderful way for the university to give back to the community, and also to receive from the community,” said Susan Comerford, an associate dean and professor of social work at UVM who helped organize the arrangement. “It’s a marriage made in heaven — a win-win.”
UVM’s offer was especially welcome, said Judy Scott, director of Vermont Refugee Resettlement, because rental apartments are getting harder to find on short notice.
“We’re finding that these days, the rental market is getting more competitive,” she said, “with more people looking for apartments than there used to be.” The refugee program’s office typically hears of a new family’s arrival just one to three weeks beforehand, she said, which means the selection is often limited to what’s available. That’s why the UVM option is so helpful, because it provides some breathing room in a tight market.
Since April, about 60 Myanmar refugees have come to Vermont, she said. This week, English language classes for them began in the UVM housing complex’s community center.
Karen refugees have also wound up in Scandinavia, Australia and England.
As for the bigger picture, Scott said: “There are about 18 million refugees in camps around the world. The United States accepts about 50,000 or 60,000 a year.”
“We’re taking a tiny number out of millions,” she said.
Some Karen refugees didn’t want to leave Thailand because they hoped to return to Myanmar, the new Vermont arrivals said.
Did they entertain such hopes?
“They know it’s not happening soon,” Htun Sein said.
Tim Johnson
25/07/08
Burlington Free Press
Image: Hei Poe and Family
Editor's Note: Readers might want to read the comments made to this article to see how local communities view the new arrivals.
From Burma to New York - The Stories of Burmese Refugees
"From Burma to New York" is a multimedia reporting project completed as a master's thesis at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Over several months, the producers of the project witnessed the challenges and triumphs of Burmese refugees as they adjusted to life in an alien culture. In dozens of interviews, refugees gave remarkably similar accounts of escaping violence and oppression in their homeland. The U.S. plans to admit thousands of Burmese refugees in the next few years. Through this project, the producers hope that viewers will gain insight, into their stories of survival and brave attempts to build new lives. Viewers should note that Burma's official name is Myanmar. The ruling regime changed the country's name in 1989. The name change was not recognized by the United States or the United Kingdom. Because Burma is more widely used, both by our sources and American readers, we chose to use the name Burma.
www.interactivenarratives.org
Irish college accepts Burma refugees
An Irish college is targeting Burmese refugees. Dundalk Institute of Technology is offering on-line degrees to Karen students living on the Thai-Burma border
BURMESE refugees living on the Thai-Burma border are to be offered the chance to study for online degrees and certificates by an Irish college.
The Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) in Co Louth is launching a virtual college for the minority Karen people, who fled to Thailand to escape civil rights abuses in Burma.
The DkIT will offer online degrees and certificates to some 30 Karen students in the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border.
Students will study modules on politics, sociology and community development by watching lectures streamed into the refugee camp over the internet.
Margaret Clarke, a spokeswoman for DkIT, said technology provided a way for the college to offer individual learning programmes to suit the Karen refugees. She proposed the on-line course last October after hearing a talk by Niamh De Loughry, a Dublin woman who has worked with Burmese refugees for four years.
“The course looks at issues of identity, culture and community,” said Clarke. “We have taken our existing courses and are adapting them for students who live in Mae La, which has a population of about 50,000.
“There is a well-developed primary and secondary education system in the camp but there isn’t a lot of third-level programmes which have internationally recognised qualifications. So we are hoping to try and bring accredited online courses to the camp, which will hopefully enable the students to help their own community.”
Course supervisors in Ireland will check up on students through long distance calls, virtual tutorials and by e-mail.
“Although the camp has relatively good facilities, it is our hope that students in the class will all log on together and watch the lectures simultaneously,” said Clarke.
Students who wish to join the course will have to pass an English test to ensure their language skills are sufficient to pass exams.
Sgaw Karen is the main language spoken in the refugee camp but many students have English. Staff from DkIT are due to travel to northern Thailand in September to assess the needs of students.
The Karen National Union (KNU), the Karen’s government in exile, has promised to assist DkIT and promote its courses.
More than 100,000 Burmese refugees, mostly Karen, have fled to Thailand to escape what they say is ethnic cleansing by the Burmese junta. They say their villages have been burnt and they have been shot, raped and tortured by the army.
John Mooney
20/07/08
Times On-line
Thailand: Stop Forced Returns of Karen Refugees to Burma
Civilians Forced Back Into Conflict Zone, More Returns Threatened
Thai security forces should immediately stop forcing Karen refugees and asylum seekers to return to Burma from refugee camps in Thailand, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Karen, an ethnic group who have fled armed conflict and human rights violations in Burma, face persecution and violent reprisals by the Burmese military government if forced to return, Human Rights Watch said.
“Forcing civilians back into an active war zone may be an easy answer for Thailand, but it’s brutal – a completely inhumane and unacceptable solution,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Thai government should cooperate with international relief agencies and UNHCR to ensure that it upholds the rights of civilians under international law.”
On July 17, local Thai paramilitary forces, the tahaan prahn (literally “hunter-killer soldiers”) rounded up 52 Karen from two refugee camps in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province along the Burma border, 39 – mostly women and children – from Mae Ra Ma Luang refugee camp and 13 from Mae La Oon camp. They permitted 17 students to stay on the Thai side, but sent 35 refugees across the border to the Ei Tu Hta relocation site in Burma.
The refugees, part of a larger group of more than 280 who fled to the Thai camps in early 2008 during a major military offensive in Eastern Burma, were told late on July 16 that they would be forced back the following day. According to local refugee sources, tahaan prahn commanders announced that all new arrivals since April will eventually be forced back to Burma.
Although Thailand has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, it is bound by the principle of non-refoulement, a firm prohibition in customary international law on returning refugees to any country where they are likely to be persecuted or their lives are at risk.
“The Thai government has ignored its obligations to protect refugees fleeing persecution and violence in Burma,” said Adams. “Sending these people back over conflict zones dominated by the Burmese army is disgraceful.”
Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Union, the United States, and other states to pressure the Thai government to immediately cease the refoulement of refugees and continue to provide sanctuary to people fleeing fighting or persecution in Burma.
“The Thai government cynically launched this illegal operation during the first day of a major Buddhist holiday, Choul Vosa, or Buddhist Lent,” Adams said. “This, along with the Thai media’s preoccupation with escalating border tensions with Cambodia over the Preah Vihear temple, provides effective cover for Thailand’s serious breach of international law.”
Ei Tu Hta relocation site in Burma, located along the Salween River, has grown during the past two years to nearly 4,300 civilians who have fled attacks and abuses by the Burmese army. The overcrowded camp receives limited international and local health and food assistance, which is often blocked by local Thai security forces. In addition, the camp faces the constant risk of attack because of its proximity to Burmese army encampments.
Thai security forces only permitted the 52 civilians sent to Ei Tu Hta camp on July 18 to carry two weeks’ supply of food and basic plastic sheeting, and prohibited the refugees from carrying mosquito nets or cooking utensils.
More than 100 civilians arrive at Ei Tu Hta camp each month as the Burmese army continues its offensive in Northern Karen State despite the monsoon rains. Human Rights Watch believes that there are now more than 90 Burmese army battalions (more than 10,000 troops) operating in the area. The soldiers are forcing Karen civilians into relocation sites, or burning their villages and food stocks with the aim to clear the area.
More than 50,000 civilians have fled or been displaced by the army offensive against civilians in Eastern Burma, which has been ongoing since 2006. They join more than half a million internally displaced civilians in Eastern Burma. The offensive in Eastern Burma is the largest operation by the Burmese military in several years. It has been denounced by international groups, including the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), in a June 2007 statement, and Amnesty International in a June 2008 report.
Refugee protection in Thailand has sharply deteriorated during the past several years, as the Royal Thai Government’s procedures for registering refugees has been bogged down. There are an estimated 20,000 unregistered people out of 148,000 in the nine Karenni and Karen minority refugee camps along the border, many of whom would likely qualify as refugees. Without registration, most are not eligible for food and shelter, nor do they receive formal protection from the UNHCR. In March 2007, Thai security forces forcibly returned nearly 100 Rohingya Muslim men from Western Burma to an area controlled by a pro-SPDC armed group along the Thailand Burma border.
For more than a year, Thai security forces and Ministry of Interior officials have been threatening unregistered refugee camp residents with forcible return. The hundreds who arrived at the two Karen camps of Mae Ra Ma Luang and Mae Ra Moe have been routinely threatened with return since May by local security forces, claiming to act on behalf of the central authorities in Bangkok.
“The root causes of why people flee Burma haven’t changed, but states such as Thailand continue to turn a blind eye to serious abuses while continuing to do business with the Burmese government,” Adams said. “Thailand should raise concern about Burmese human rights violations that cause forced displacement as well as responding humanely to its victims seeking asylum at their borders and in their territories.”
Human Rights Watch
18/07/08
Images: IDP's in Ei Thu Hta Camp - Marci
British MPs call on Govt. to investigate Mahn Sha's assassination
Nearly 60 British parliamentarians have signed a petition, 'Early Day Motion', urging for the UK government to investigate and expose the assassins of Burma's ethnic rebel leader Padoh Mahn Sha Lah Phan.
In absence of no official investigation on the assassination of the General Secretary of Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic armed rebel group, the British parliamentarians call on the UK government to conduct a direct investigation and expose the culprit.
"We welcome this move by the British parliamentarians because it is not only a moral support but is a fight against injustice," Zoya Phan, daughter of Mahn Sha, who is currently in UK, told Mizzima.
Mahn Sha was assassinated on February 14, by two unknown gunmen at his residence in the Thai-Burmese border town of Maesot. However, five months on, the culprit behind the murder is still unknown.
Zoya said, "Though we know that it is the work of the Burmese military junta, there has been no official announcement and we are sad about it."
The British MPs also condemn the Burmese military junta for its terrorist act in organising the assassination, and call on the British government to take action to stop attacks on the Karen and other ethnic civilians.
In loving memories of their father and in order to continue his works, Zoya said she along with her two brothers and a sister had established the 'Phan Foundation'.
"Through this foundation, we aim to preserve the Karen culture and also help Karen people in their education," Zoya said.
Mahn Sha elected as general secretary in December 2006 of the KNU, which has been fighting for self-determination for over half a century.
Majoring in history at the Rangoon University in 1962, he joined the Karen movement in the jungle soon after he complete his studies.
A highly respected figure among both ethnic and Burman allies the Burmese military regime also see Manh Sha as a strong leader in the KNU.
He was 64 years old at the time of his death.
Mizzima
15-7-08
Images: Padoh Mahn Sha La Phan (t) and Zoya Phan - KIC/KHCPS Archive
"Arrested Lieutenant not our member": KNU
The Karen National Union (KNU) has denied reports that the person arrested by Burmese soldiers in Thailand belongs to KNU.
News was in circulation in Thailand that 2nd Lt. Pu Pu of the KNU Drug Enforcement Force was arrested by Burmese soldiers on July 11 near Friendship Bridge in Maesod, northern Thailand.
"We can confirm that he is not a member of the KNU," Pado Saw Hla Ngwe, Information Department in-charge of KNU Headquarters, told Mizzima.
The KNU denied and responded to the news at the same time saying that 2nd Lt. Pu Pu from KNU arrived at a place near Friendship Bridge to meet Burmese soldiers on appointment and then he was beaten unconscious and taken away in a mini-bus to Myawadi across Maesod.
"He used to visit some leaders of KNU occasionally, but I'd like to say he has nothing to do with KNU anymore," Pado Saw Hla Ngwe said.
Though the person arrested by Burmese soldiers joined hands with KNU in an anti-drug campaign two years ago, he hasn't had any relationship with the KNU for long time, Pado Saw Hla Ngwe added.
"We learnt that he sometimes lived in Mae La refugee camp and did odd jobs outside," he added.
While Burmese soldiers came and arrested a person in Thailand, some officers from Maj. Gen. Htein Maung's KNU-KNLA (Peace Council), a breakaway group of the KNU, returned and rejoined.
Lt. Col. Saw Gay Htu and some of his soldiers came back for fear of being punished after Saw Lemu, son-in-law of Maj. Gen. Htein Maung, was assassinated.
Than Htike Oo
Mizzima
15-7-08
Image: Friendship Bridge- BBC
Villagers Return
More than 100 Thais returned to their border village yesterday after Karen fighters regained their base from Burmese troops.
A security source said the Thai villagers, who fled the fighting inside Burma to a safe area in Phop Phra district on Monday, went back to Ban Padi after their safety was guaranteed.
Their return came hours after more than 100 armed Karen National Union (KNU) troops led by Col Nerda Mya took back its Valeki (Waley Kee) stronghold from the Burmese army and its allies, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
The KNU began its retaliation on Monday after its base was raided, and regained it yesterday.
The source said 12 porters helping the Burmese soldiers were arrested after crossing the border into Thailand, and were sent back.
A KNU source claimed at least 10 Burmese and DKBA soldiers and porters were killed, while one KNU member died and three were injured.
The Valeki base of the KNU is opposite Ban Padi.
Supamart Kasem
Bangkok Post
3-7-08
Image: Colonel Nerdah Mya - KHCPS Archive
Three killed in recent KNLA clashes with regime troops
The two-day offensive by Burmese government troops and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army on Karen National Liberation Army-controlled territory ended in three deaths on the regime side.
Karen National Union information department coordinator major Saw Hla Ngwe said one DKBA soldier and two from the SPDC army were killed when they clashed with the KNLA on territory controlled by KNLA brigade 6's special battalion 201 on 1 and 2 July.
Major Saw Hla Ngwe said some DKBA troops were stopped by Thai authorities as they retreated over Thai territory.
"Thai authorities captured one of them who was armed and wearing military uniform, but the rest were released after they were identified as villagers abducted by the DKBA to be used as porters," the major said.
"The enemies withdrew in dismay by sunset – we have eliminated them all."
DKBA could not be contacted for comment on the fight.
Naw Say Phaw
DVB
3-7-08
Karen rebels recapture outpost
The Karen National Union, one of Burma's longest operating ethnic insurgents, claimed it had recaptured a camp, which it lost a few days ago to a joint force of its splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Burmese Army.
The ethnic Karen rebels of the KNU on Monday lost its Waylaykhe [Waley Kee] based camp in Kawkareik Township in Karen State, during a joint attack launched by the DKBA, another Karen rebel group that broke away from KNU, and the Burmese Army.
But the fire fight was far from over and on Tuesday, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of KNU, launched a counter attack and reclaimed its outpost, a KNU leader said.
"We were able to reclaim all that we lost. We took about half of the area by noon yesterday and by night fall they [DKBA & Burmese Army] retreated, so everything is ours again," Pado Saw Hla Ngwe, information in-charge of the KNU central committee told Mizzima.
The recapture was only possible after fighting the whole day. The KNLA had about 60 soldiers fighting against nearly 80 DKBA soldiers through out the day on Tuesday, he said.
"The Burmese Army battalion 284 also helped the DKBA and fired at us from the hills. We had no casualties but we don't know how many casualties the enemy suffered," Pado Saw Hla Ngwe said.
On Monday, a KNLA soldier was killed when the DKBA and the Burmese Army jointly launched an attack on the KNLA outpost. But it is not known how many casualties the joint force suffered.
Waylaykhe outpost is located about 45 kilometres from the Thai-Burmese border town of Mae Sod. Thailand is said to have beefed up security along the border.
DKBA has several times joined the Burmese Army in it is campaign against the KNLA.
According to KNU statistics, in 2007 the KNLA and the Burmese Army had more than 1,000 clashes including minor skirmishes along the Thai-Burmese border.
According to the Free Burma Rangers, a volunteer group helping refugees and internally displaced persons along the Thai-Burmese border, more than 20,000 Karen villagers were displaced in 2007, as a result of the clashes between the KNLA and Burmese Army.
Than Htike Oo
Mizzima
2-7-08
Image: 201 Battalion Troops at Waley Kee in 2001- Paul Keenan - KHCPS Archive
Fighting between KNLA and DKBA Continues
The Thai army has sent in soldiers from its Mae Sot-based 4th Infantry division to secure its border, while fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its breakaway group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) continued near Pob Phra District in Thailand’s Tak Province, according to sources in the area.
The headman of the village of Phadee in Pob Phra District told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the Thai authorities had evacuated more than 200 villagers to Roumthaipattana 8 Village until the fighting finishes.
Meanwhile, about 200 Karen villagers from Burma fled to the Thai side of the border and are currently taking refuge at the local school in Phadee, said sources.
Col Apichet Suesat, commander of the 4th Infantry division, an arm of the Naresuan Task Force, has ordered his troops to protect the villagers and defend any armed groups that flee to Thai territory, according to a report on Thai news website INN on Tuesday.
A skirmish between the KNLA and the DKBA broke out on Monday at Valeki village, across the border from Phadee. One KNLA soldier was reportedly killed when DKBA troops backed by Burmese army units overran a military base belonging to KNLA Battalion 201. The KNLA is the military wing of the Karen National Union (KNU).
The clash continued into Tuesday morning as troops from KNLA Battalion 201 tried to retake their military base, according to Maj Hla Ngwe, secretary of the KNU’s information department.
Maj Hla Ngwe said the fighting restarted early on Tuesday morning and continued until noon. Half of the seized KNLA military base was retaken by KNLA Battalion 201, said Maj Hla Ngwe. However, he could not confirm the number of casualties.
According to a report in Bangkok-based English newspaper The Bangkok Post, an estimated 100 Burmese soldiers from the 409th Light Infantry Regiment joined the DKBA Battalion 907 in attacking KNLA Battalion 201’s base on Monday.
Saw Yan Naing and Sai Silp
Irrawaddy
1-7-08
Thais evacuated as KNU attacked by Burmese army
More than 100 Thais were evacuated from Phop Phra district bordering Burma yesterday after Burmese troops sealed off and attacked a Karen stronghold. A resident of Ban Padi said he heard gunfire from 5am. The battleground was opposite the village, just across Padi stream, he said.
Thai soldiers and rangers provided safety for the evacuees and stood by to prevent any intrusion by foreign troops.
A ranger said about 100 Burmese soldiers from the 409th Light Infantry Regiment joined the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army's (DKBA) 907th Battalion. The joint force sealed off and attacked the Karen National Union (KNU) at Waley Kee, opposite Ban Padi.
The source said the KNU's 201 Battalion were out-gunned by the joint force, which had more manpower and weapons. One KNU soldier died and two others were injured, he said. Burmese casualties were not known.
Supamart Kasem
Bangkok Post
1-7-08
