KNU Press - Statement

With regard to a news item, accusing the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) troops of killing 27 wood cutters, published on April 6, in the "New Light of Myanmar," the propaganda organ of the SPDC Burmese military dictatorship, we have to say that it was totally false.

Our information from reliable sources indicates that the civilians were in fact murdered by the dictatorship's special unit, known in short as "Sa Thon Lon Apweh" in Burmese. A translation of it means "Military Investigation Unit (MIU)." It operates independently from the regular SPDC army units.

Members of this unit have been terrorizing the people, since 1998, by torturing and killing innocent civilians at will in the KNLA 3rd Brigade area (Nyaunglaybin District), in which the killing took place. In addition, they freely commit such crimes as extortion, looting and rape, against the Karen as well as the Burmese population.

Some details preceding the SPDC accusation were that the deputy commander of the SPDC military Southern Command, Maung Ni, arrived at the headquarters of Infantry Battalion 60 based in Kyaukkyi, on 30-3-2001. He instructed Infantry Battalion 60, Light Infantry Battalion 351 and units under the local SPDC tactical command to seize all the persons and machinery, involved in stealing timber from the forest. In the following days, the SPDC units seized 38 supposedly timber poachers and handed them over to Kyaukkyi police.

The MIU is under the direct control of Maung Ni. There is reason to believe that, the MIU members took out these unfortunate villagers and murdered them, in accordance with a plot hatched at a higher level. They then accused the KNLA troops of murdering these people.

The incident supposedly took place on the 23 of March and it was not published in the NLM until the 6th of April. The accusation no doubt was politically motivated and with the intention of tarnishing the good image of the KNU.

The SPDC also accused the KNU of murdering the engineer, U Tint Lwin, who was seized in a raid on a forced labor camp of the SPDC at a dam construction site. The SPDC made this false accusation, even when they knew that the KNU was making arrangement to hand over the engineer to the ICRC. The engineer was finally handed over to a Thai intermediary, on April 5, 2001, who had a good rapport with the SPDC.

Nowadays, the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva has been holding a hearing on human rights violations. Every year since 1990, the Burmese military junta has been condemned by the UNHRC and the UNGA, for serious and widespread human rights violations. This year, perhaps, the junta hopes to pull a wool over the eyes of the International Community, by concocting false propaganda against the ethnic nationalities, who have to carry on armed resistance against the junta's genocidal war against them.

False accusations against the ethnic nationalities are being done in conjunction with what we see as a false dialogue with the NLD General Secretary, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It is clear that the junta is still using various tactics of pressure to break her will. We hope that the World does not fail to see the ruse and take necessary measures, in time.