Karen Rebels Under Pressure from Thais
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By MIN LWIN Thursday, March 5, 2009
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Senior military leaders of the Karen National Union (KNU) have been pressured by Thai authorities to leave Thailand and return to their own territory, according to KNU sources.
The recent pressure follows a meeting between local Thai and Burmese border authorities held earlier this year in Myawaddy, a border town in Burma’s Karen State, the sources added.
Burmese exiled dissidents in Mae Sot, located opposite Myawaddy in Thailand’s Tak Province, confirmed that Thai authorities had stepped up pressure on leaders of the KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA).
Speaking to The Irrawaddy by phone on Thursday, the KNU’s Saw David Taw said that the Thai authorities had placed senior KNLA military officers on a list that included their home and office addresses in Mae Sot and were telling them to leave the country.
“Thai authorities gave a semi-official order stating that anyone who can give commands to KNLA battalions has to move from Thailand,” he said.
Thai authorities also said that KNLA commanders and others responsible for KNLA military affairs should to stay on their own territory, said Saw David Taw.
“Thai authorities have also imposed restrictions on KNLA leaders’ travel to and from Mae Sot,” he added. “It appears that the Thai government is putting pressure on the KNLA to stop them engaging in any military activities from Thai territory.”
The KNLA has been fighting the Burmese government since 1948. In 1995, it lost control of its former headquarters at Manerplaw, in Karen State. It later shifted its command center closer to the Thai-Burmese border area.
Since then, the KNU and KNLA have continued to attack the Burmese military by forming small units and basing themselves in temporary jungle camps along the Thai-Burmese border.
Meanwhile, there are reports that the Burmese government has reinforced troops in Karen State in preparation for dry-season military offensives against the Karen rebels.
Military sources said that the Burmese junta has deployed more infantry battalions and a group of armored personnel carriers (APCs) in Kya Inn Seikgyi Township, a “black area” of Karen State where the KNLA is active.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Saturday, 21 February 2009
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General Secretary Mahn Sha (right) of KNU pictured with Gen Bo Mya at Karen Revolution Day in 2004. (Photo: Htain Linn)
Mahn Sha’s Spirit Lives On
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By SAW YAN NAING Friday, February 13, 2009
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On February 14 last year, two unknown men pulled up in a pick-up truck outside Mahn Sha’s house in Mae Sot. He was upstairs resting on the balcony at the time, family members say. The men walked into the house armed with shotguns. They marched up the stairs and a series of loud gunshots was heard. The gunmen ran downstairs and escaped. The Karen National Union (KNU) general-secretary lay dead in a pool of blood.
On Saturday, Karen people around the world, Burmese opposition leaders, international Burma watchers and exiled Burmese will pay respects to Mahn Sha, considered a visionary Karen leader—a man respected by all, especially his adversaries.
Ceremonies of remembrance to Mahn Shah, who was 64 when he died, will be held on Saturday in Norway and other countries around the world.
Mahn Sha was born in Irrawaddy Division on July 5, 1944. After majoring in history at Rangoon University in 1962, he joined the Karen movement at its jungle headquarters, Manerplaw, on the Thai-Burmese border.
He was involved in ceasefire talks with the Burmese military regime, which came to see him as a strong leader who repeatedly called for genuine political dialogue. He was regarded by many as one of the leading lights in the KNU and was being groomed to take over the troubled KNU leadership.
In its six-decade war for autonomy, the KNU never signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese armed forces and, in recent years, had to contend with the splinter Karen group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, as an enemy too.
With so many enemies, it has never been confirmed who ordered the Karen leader’s assassination.
Brig-Gen Johnny, commander of the Karen National Liberation Army’s Brigade 7, said that Karen youth should look at Mahn Sha’s example and the way he sacrificed his life for the Karen people.
Brig-Gen Johnny said, “Mahn Sha didn’t work for his own family. He worked for his people. He didn’t even possess any belongings of worth when he died.”
The current general-secretary of the KNU, Zipporah Sein, said she encouraged Karen youths to learn from Mahn Sha as he was the one who always supported education and politics, and even prompted youngsters to get involved in the democracy movement.
Burmese opposition leaders in exile also spoke out in support of Mahn Sha’s vision. Most agreed that the death of Mahn Sha was a huge loss for the Burmese democracy movement as no one in the KNU leadership could substitute for him.
Aung Moe Zaw, the chairman of the Thailand-based Democratic Party for a New Society, said that Mahn Sha was an ethnic leader who spoke for the whole Burmese democracy movement, including ethnic people and the Burmese opposition.
The secretary-general of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, Naing Aung, agreed that Mahn Sha was a strong ethnic leader who knew and understood the history of the Burmese opposition alliance and who dealt harmoniously with the Burmese opposition groups.
In Norway on Saturday, a posthumous award will be presented to Mahn Sha as well as four other ethnic leaders for their efforts toward national reconciliation in Burma.
The four others are Khun Htun Oo, Aye Tha Aung, Cin Sian Thang and Nai Ngwe Thein.
Mahn Sha’s daughter, Zoya Phan, will receive the award on her father’s behalf.
General Secretary Mahn Sha (right) of KNU pictured with Gen Bo Mya at Karen Revolution Day in 2004. (Photo: Htain Linn)
Mahn Sha’s Spirit Lives On
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, February 13, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMENT(3)
TEXT SIZE
On February 14 last year, two unknown men pulled up in a pick-up truck outside Mahn Sha’s house in Mae Sot. He was upstairs resting on the balcony at the time, family members say. The men walked into the house armed with shotguns. They marched up the stairs and a series of loud gunshots was heard. The gunmen ran downstairs and escaped. The Karen National Union (KNU) general-secretary lay dead in a pool of blood.
On Saturday, Karen people around the world, Burmese opposition leaders, international Burma watchers and exiled Burmese will pay respects to Mahn Sha, considered a visionary Karen leader—a man respected by all, especially his adversaries.
Ceremonies of remembrance to Mahn Shah, who was 64 when he died, will be held on Saturday in Norway and other countries around the world.
Mahn Sha was born in Irrawaddy Division on July 5, 1944. After majoring in history at Rangoon University in 1962, he joined the Karen movement at its jungle headquarters, Manerplaw, on the Thai-Burmese border.
He was involved in ceasefire talks with the Burmese military regime, which came to see him as a strong leader who repeatedly called for genuine political dialogue. He was regarded by many as one of the leading lights in the KNU and was being groomed to take over the troubled KNU leadership.
In its six-decade war for autonomy, the KNU never signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese armed forces and, in recent years, had to contend with the splinter Karen group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, as an enemy too.
With so many enemies, it has never been confirmed who ordered the Karen leader’s assassination.
Brig-Gen Johnny, commander of the Karen National Liberation Army’s Brigade 7, said that Karen youth should look at Mahn Sha’s example and the way he sacrificed his life for the Karen people.
Brig-Gen Johnny said, “Mahn Sha didn’t work for his own family. He worked for his people. He didn’t even possess any belongings of worth when he died.”
The current general-secretary of the KNU, Zipporah Sein, said she encouraged Karen youths to learn from Mahn Sha as he was the one who always supported education and politics, and even prompted youngsters to get involved in the democracy movement.
Burmese opposition leaders in exile also spoke out in support of Mahn Sha’s vision. Most agreed that the death of Mahn Sha was a huge loss for the Burmese democracy movement as no one in the KNU leadership could substitute for him.
Aung Moe Zaw, the chairman of the Thailand-based Democratic Party for a New Society, said that Mahn Sha was an ethnic leader who spoke for the whole Burmese democracy movement, including ethnic people and the Burmese opposition.
The secretary-general of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, Naing Aung, agreed that Mahn Sha was a strong ethnic leader who knew and understood the history of the Burmese opposition alliance and who dealt harmoniously with the Burmese opposition groups.
In Norway on Saturday, a posthumous award will be presented to Mahn Sha as well as four other ethnic leaders for their efforts toward national reconciliation in Burma.
The four others are Khun Htun Oo, Aye Tha Aung, Cin Sian Thang and Nai Ngwe Thein.
Mahn Sha’s daughter, Zoya Phan, will receive the award on her father’s behalf.
Friday, 23 January 2009
"Gideon"
Mahn Robert Ba Zahn
"Phu Khi Doh"
with Homemade rocket launcher
Kawthoolei, 1996
In the following brief narrative, War, Love, Loss, and...Hope, Karen guerilla fighter, Mahn Robert Ba Zan, recounts his war experiences in an honest and no holds barred fashion. Members of Zan's ethnic group, the Karen, have been embroiled in armed conflict with successive Burmese governments for the last 50 years. His accounts clearly show the heavy price this war has extolled on combatants on both sides, as well as the civilian population. Zan's story is one of both victory and waste, revolutionary fervor and hopelessness, and is perhaps, a miniature representation of the nature of war itself. Living in a torturous paradox, Zan, a man who detests killing, feels impelled to shield his people from the savagery of the Burmese Army. Despite the travails of war, Zan holds fast to his ideals and wishes to see all those who are abused and exploited by the Burmese regime, including the Burmese foot soldiers whom he must face on the battlefield, to someday realize the dream of peace and hope for Burma.
Phu Khi Doh
at the front line
Background: The Struggle
The Karen revolutionary struggle in Burma is among the most brutal, longest running, and least known armed conflicts of the modern era. The current military dictatorship in Burma, whom the Karen revolutionaries oppose, has been staunchly criticized by a myriad of nations, as well as world, religious, and human rights organizations for brutalizing its own people. Today, in the hills and jungles of Burma the Karen and a handful of other anti-Burmese military dictatorship groups continue to hold out against the illegal and abusive Burmese regime. Presently, there are nearly 300,000 people from Burma that are refugees. Continue
"Phu Khi Doh"
with Homemade rocket launcher
Kawthoolei, 1996
In the following brief narrative, War, Love, Loss, and...Hope, Karen guerilla fighter, Mahn Robert Ba Zan, recounts his war experiences in an honest and no holds barred fashion. Members of Zan's ethnic group, the Karen, have been embroiled in armed conflict with successive Burmese governments for the last 50 years. His accounts clearly show the heavy price this war has extolled on combatants on both sides, as well as the civilian population. Zan's story is one of both victory and waste, revolutionary fervor and hopelessness, and is perhaps, a miniature representation of the nature of war itself. Living in a torturous paradox, Zan, a man who detests killing, feels impelled to shield his people from the savagery of the Burmese Army. Despite the travails of war, Zan holds fast to his ideals and wishes to see all those who are abused and exploited by the Burmese regime, including the Burmese foot soldiers whom he must face on the battlefield, to someday realize the dream of peace and hope for Burma.
Phu Khi Doh
at the front line
Background: The Struggle
The Karen revolutionary struggle in Burma is among the most brutal, longest running, and least known armed conflicts of the modern era. The current military dictatorship in Burma, whom the Karen revolutionaries oppose, has been staunchly criticized by a myriad of nations, as well as world, religious, and human rights organizations for brutalizing its own people. Today, in the hills and jungles of Burma the Karen and a handful of other anti-Burmese military dictatorship groups continue to hold out against the illegal and abusive Burmese regime. Presently, there are nearly 300,000 people from Burma that are refugees. Continue
Aung San Suu Kyi
----
Dear Supporter,
Many people have compared Burma's Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi to Martin Luther King Jr.
These comparisons came into focus last Sunday -- on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. day -- when Suu Kyi was given the "Trumpet of Conscience Award" by the Realizing the Dream foundation, which is led by Martin Luther King III.
In a ceremony attended by over 1,000 people in Washington, DC, the award was presented by Jordan's Queen Noor and accepted by U.S. Campaign for Burma co-founder Aung Din on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi. Each year, Realizing the Dream honors individuals who embody the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.
For the past three years we have organized events on Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday to draw attenton to the struggle of Burma's democracy movement. Each year, these events grow larger and larger.
In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama joined the effort, issuing a statement of support that said "[Aung San Suu Kyi] has sacrificed family and ultimately her freedom to remain true to her people and the cause of liberty. And she has done so using the tools of nonviolent resistance in the great tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, earning the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize."
This year, we are asking all of our supporters, including you, to help Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma by making a New Years Resolution to host an event for Burma at your home. You can hold your event at any time between now and Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday on June 19th. Please join us in this important effort!
Sign up here to get started right away.
Dear Supporter,
Many people have compared Burma's Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi to Martin Luther King Jr.
These comparisons came into focus last Sunday -- on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. day -- when Suu Kyi was given the "Trumpet of Conscience Award" by the Realizing the Dream foundation, which is led by Martin Luther King III.
In a ceremony attended by over 1,000 people in Washington, DC, the award was presented by Jordan's Queen Noor and accepted by U.S. Campaign for Burma co-founder Aung Din on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi. Each year, Realizing the Dream honors individuals who embody the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.
For the past three years we have organized events on Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday to draw attenton to the struggle of Burma's democracy movement. Each year, these events grow larger and larger.
In 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama joined the effort, issuing a statement of support that said "[Aung San Suu Kyi] has sacrificed family and ultimately her freedom to remain true to her people and the cause of liberty. And she has done so using the tools of nonviolent resistance in the great tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, earning the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize."
This year, we are asking all of our supporters, including you, to help Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma by making a New Years Resolution to host an event for Burma at your home. You can hold your event at any time between now and Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday on June 19th. Please join us in this important effort!
Sign up here to get started right away.
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Legacy of General Bo Mya
Inside Burma Karen revolution and the legacy of General Bo Mya
Karen revolution and the legacy of General Bo Mya
by Daniel Pedersen
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 17:31
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – The general was tired. He walked with a slow, unsteady gait and heaved sighs as he settled into his chair. General Bo Mya had been fighting against Burma's military in all its forms for more than fifty years when we first met in 2000 and, if anything, he was farther than ever from achieving his goal.
A legend in the Karen struggle for self-determination, he bristled with hatred for Burma's military and was visibly frustrated talking about his war. Where could he begin? And what good was talk?
He had spent his lifetime at war and during that time talk had generally proven to be but a prelude to some form of treachery or simply a continuation of the status quo. Burma's generals had many times wanted him to lay down his arms. But how could the veteran Karen revolutionary lay down his arms during a war? He could not – for that would mean surrender.
On January 20, 2009, on what would have been Bo Mya's 82nd birthday, the sun burned away the morning mist and for an hour or so our surroundings of commercial agricultural flatlands were revealed. By the time the second choir had completed a Karen folk song, smoke and tropical haze had taken the place of the morning damp. A middle-aged woman lifted her head as the songs ended – eyes moist, perhaps from recollection.
Nerdah Mya, General Bo Mya's eldest son, welcomed everyone.
"There are, of course, two reasons why we are here today. The first is to remember our late father and all the good things he brought to his family and those around him, and the second is to give thanks for the New Year."
"On this family thanksgiving we must all praise the Lord that we are still alive, we wish you all the best – may you find prosperity, happiness and peace of mind in this coming year," offered the son of the fallen hero, who passed in late December, 2006.
Having weathered half a century of conflict, General Bo Mya remained adamant until his death that the military defeat of Burma's generals was possible. It really came down to a matter of beliefs, tactics and hardware.
Of course any assistance in grinding down the generals was greatly appreciated, and he acknowledged that economic sanctions also hurt the generals and, by default, assisted his army. He was also adamant that the illicit trade in drugs, predominantly methamphetamines and heroin, combined with foreign aid, propped up the junta.
"They [countries engaging with the junta] are simply killing people. People are dying and the drugs keep coming. The country is poor but the military is not. The country is poor because the SPDC [Burmese Army] refuses to stop fighting. Serious sanctions by the international community can certainly help - already the Burmese have accumulated debts they cannot pay," thundered the now deceased General.
Eight years after I first met Bo Mya I found myself sitting opposite his son, Nerdah Mya, in August of last year. He echoed the sentiments of his father, simply iterating, "I am obligated to work for the struggle."
"You know my Dad told me when he got really sick: 'All my life I have been calling for my people to fight for their freedom. They have died for it, they have sacrificed for it and you cannot go abroad and escape, you have to stand up and fight.' Otherwise, my Dad said, he would be betraying the people who have fought and died," related Nerdah Mya.
"And I told him 'Yes, I will carry on'," and Nerdah Mya thumped his fist on the table, not for dramatic effect, but rather as an indication of his resolve.
"I remember my Dad would go out and get one deer and we would share it with all the households, we would share with everybody," continued Nerdah Mya. "And I respect those strong family ties among the Karen people. It is good to preserve this kind of culture and loving one another."
Tuesday's memorial found more than 150 people gathered to reflect on the year past and to give thanks for the coming New Year, the Karen year of 2748.
Every single person in attendance wanted the war to take its place in the dustbin of history. But less than an hour's drive from where we gathered, between 300 and 400 men – three Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) battalions and one Burmese Army battalion, had 100 Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldiers surrounded at Wah Lay Kee, base camp of the Sixth Brigade's 201st battalion.
Meanwhile, the KNLA 101st battalion, consisting of about 160 soldiers and seven nurses, to the northwest of Mae La refugee camp, is involved in fighting daily. And intense fighting has also broken out in both Shan and Karenni states.
Nerdah Mya bluntly says all this activity is a concerted push to quash insurgents before the 2010 "elections". The generals want calm, according to several observers, so the military and its public relations people can manage a smooth process that will institutionalize military rule through a 'democratic' process.
Of solutions to the world's longest-running war, recently-elected Karen National Union Vice-Chairman David Takapaw says, in words reminiscent of the late General, that the only way forward is to defeat the "fascist" Burmese military.
"Ever since the military came to power in 1962, the ultimate goal of the military establishment is to set up the fourth Burman empire. Of course in this time and age, only fascists would think of setting up an empire in a multi-ethnic state like Burma," ruminated the Vice-Chairman. "Non-Burman ethnic people will never accept that."
"The states don't have any power – any political power, the power to legislate, the power to adjudicate, the power to manage, executive power, they don't have any of that – all of the power is centralized in the hands of the majority Burman. The ethnic people don't have any rights. They don't have economic rights. They don't have human rights. They don't have any political power. That is why many ethnic people at one time…were fighting against the central government, the Burmans."
Takapaw proceeded with his indictment of the current regime: "But that arrangement hasn't changed, the regime in power, now known as the SPDC, has drafted a constitution, held a referendum and confirmed…that non-Burman ethnicities will not have any power."
And did he look to the United States for support in the Karen military campaign to force change in Burma?
"Well, from the United States, maybe. But I think perhaps they do not see much national interest in this case. And the Cold War has ended. In the case of Vietnam of course the Cold War was going on. Geopolitics effects, directly or indirectly, our struggle," summarized the Vice-Chairman.
This year, the late General's birthday falls on the eve of Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. It is also just one day after Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Trumpet of Conscience Award, which commemorates the late Martin Luther King, Jr.
US Campaign for Burma's executive director Aung Din, accepting the award on Suu Kyi's behalf, said he hoped Obama would uphold existing economic sanctions against Burma and lead a strong diplomatic effort to organize the international community to pressure the military junta.
Chief editor at the Jakarta Post, Endy M. Bayuni, writing in The New York Times suggested Obama's four years in Jakarta, from 1967 to 1971, when the country was adjusting to the harsh realities of the Sukarno era, will have served him well.
Obama is described as a United States president who has lived under a dictatorship and in a country in which "military control was widespread and . . . students attended indoctrination classes where they would profess their loyalty to the state. Dissent and criticism were not tolerated in public life. There was barely freedom of thought," wrote Bayuni.
Yet, while such comparisons are chilling, it would be reckless to see any promise in historical coincidences.
New Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva may well chart a different course for his country vis-à-vis Burma, but it will not involve cutting back on the Kingdom's commitment to three mega-dams planned for Burma's Salween River, nor reviews of natural gas deals with the junta.
Meanwhile, India's politicians are still basking in the success of securing a deal in September of last year to construct two vast hydropower projects on the Chindwin River.
Further, without agreement among the permanent five Security Council members, all with the power of veto, the United Nations is crippled when it comes to taking any action. As such, unilateral intervention appears the solitary choice Obama is left with when it comes to a definitive move to liberate Burma.
But back along the Thai-Burma border on Tuesday, as a couple sang a duet in the distance, Nerdah Mya said he hoped Obama might be able to do something, to make a significant contribution to change in Burma, but added, "How much he can do is another question."
Asked for a message for the West from the frontlines of the world's longest-running insurgency, Nerdah Mya was blunt, "We must stop the tyranny. We can't just sit and watch. Otherwise more people will die."
In agreement with Nerdah Mya's sentiments is a close friend, Myat Thu, an ethnic Burman and an exile of the 1988 student uprising during which thousands perished and the aftermath of which left thousands more mired in limbo.
He too knew General Bo Mya and was among the founders of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) along the Thai-Burma border.
Bo Mya's army took the ABSDF in and trained them in the discipline of warfare.
In the words of one exile, Win Cho: "I started in 1989. At that time I was fighting with the KNU (Karen National Union). You know I have nothing but respect for the KNU, they helped us so much, until we met them we had nothing, no healthcare, one set of clothes, we had nothing.
Win Cho was an ABSDF commander, but plays down such a vote of confidence from his peers.
"I was hardly a commander, in those days we were totally dependent on the Karen, we didn't go out on operations by ourselves. We hadn't learned how to survive out there by ourselves at that point," elaborated Win Cho.
Both Myat Thu and Win Cho speak highly of Bo Mya and his no-nonsense, uncompromising attitude towards discipline.
As secretary, Myat Thu is a high ranking officer of the newly-formed 2009 Collective Action Committee, a gathering of representatives from the ethnic nationalities, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the monkhood, whose aim is to "impede the forthcoming bogus elections of 2010".
The collective's motto is drawn from a senior NLD leader, but could just have easily been uttered by Bo Mya himself: "Seek not to escape from this conflict – but rather to confront it and break through it."
Karen revolution and the legacy of General Bo Mya
by Daniel Pedersen
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 17:31
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – The general was tired. He walked with a slow, unsteady gait and heaved sighs as he settled into his chair. General Bo Mya had been fighting against Burma's military in all its forms for more than fifty years when we first met in 2000 and, if anything, he was farther than ever from achieving his goal.
A legend in the Karen struggle for self-determination, he bristled with hatred for Burma's military and was visibly frustrated talking about his war. Where could he begin? And what good was talk?
He had spent his lifetime at war and during that time talk had generally proven to be but a prelude to some form of treachery or simply a continuation of the status quo. Burma's generals had many times wanted him to lay down his arms. But how could the veteran Karen revolutionary lay down his arms during a war? He could not – for that would mean surrender.
On January 20, 2009, on what would have been Bo Mya's 82nd birthday, the sun burned away the morning mist and for an hour or so our surroundings of commercial agricultural flatlands were revealed. By the time the second choir had completed a Karen folk song, smoke and tropical haze had taken the place of the morning damp. A middle-aged woman lifted her head as the songs ended – eyes moist, perhaps from recollection.
Nerdah Mya, General Bo Mya's eldest son, welcomed everyone.
"There are, of course, two reasons why we are here today. The first is to remember our late father and all the good things he brought to his family and those around him, and the second is to give thanks for the New Year."
"On this family thanksgiving we must all praise the Lord that we are still alive, we wish you all the best – may you find prosperity, happiness and peace of mind in this coming year," offered the son of the fallen hero, who passed in late December, 2006.
Having weathered half a century of conflict, General Bo Mya remained adamant until his death that the military defeat of Burma's generals was possible. It really came down to a matter of beliefs, tactics and hardware.
Of course any assistance in grinding down the generals was greatly appreciated, and he acknowledged that economic sanctions also hurt the generals and, by default, assisted his army. He was also adamant that the illicit trade in drugs, predominantly methamphetamines and heroin, combined with foreign aid, propped up the junta.
"They [countries engaging with the junta] are simply killing people. People are dying and the drugs keep coming. The country is poor but the military is not. The country is poor because the SPDC [Burmese Army] refuses to stop fighting. Serious sanctions by the international community can certainly help - already the Burmese have accumulated debts they cannot pay," thundered the now deceased General.
Eight years after I first met Bo Mya I found myself sitting opposite his son, Nerdah Mya, in August of last year. He echoed the sentiments of his father, simply iterating, "I am obligated to work for the struggle."
"You know my Dad told me when he got really sick: 'All my life I have been calling for my people to fight for their freedom. They have died for it, they have sacrificed for it and you cannot go abroad and escape, you have to stand up and fight.' Otherwise, my Dad said, he would be betraying the people who have fought and died," related Nerdah Mya.
"And I told him 'Yes, I will carry on'," and Nerdah Mya thumped his fist on the table, not for dramatic effect, but rather as an indication of his resolve.
"I remember my Dad would go out and get one deer and we would share it with all the households, we would share with everybody," continued Nerdah Mya. "And I respect those strong family ties among the Karen people. It is good to preserve this kind of culture and loving one another."
Tuesday's memorial found more than 150 people gathered to reflect on the year past and to give thanks for the coming New Year, the Karen year of 2748.
Every single person in attendance wanted the war to take its place in the dustbin of history. But less than an hour's drive from where we gathered, between 300 and 400 men – three Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) battalions and one Burmese Army battalion, had 100 Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldiers surrounded at Wah Lay Kee, base camp of the Sixth Brigade's 201st battalion.
Meanwhile, the KNLA 101st battalion, consisting of about 160 soldiers and seven nurses, to the northwest of Mae La refugee camp, is involved in fighting daily. And intense fighting has also broken out in both Shan and Karenni states.
Nerdah Mya bluntly says all this activity is a concerted push to quash insurgents before the 2010 "elections". The generals want calm, according to several observers, so the military and its public relations people can manage a smooth process that will institutionalize military rule through a 'democratic' process.
Of solutions to the world's longest-running war, recently-elected Karen National Union Vice-Chairman David Takapaw says, in words reminiscent of the late General, that the only way forward is to defeat the "fascist" Burmese military.
"Ever since the military came to power in 1962, the ultimate goal of the military establishment is to set up the fourth Burman empire. Of course in this time and age, only fascists would think of setting up an empire in a multi-ethnic state like Burma," ruminated the Vice-Chairman. "Non-Burman ethnic people will never accept that."
"The states don't have any power – any political power, the power to legislate, the power to adjudicate, the power to manage, executive power, they don't have any of that – all of the power is centralized in the hands of the majority Burman. The ethnic people don't have any rights. They don't have economic rights. They don't have human rights. They don't have any political power. That is why many ethnic people at one time…were fighting against the central government, the Burmans."
Takapaw proceeded with his indictment of the current regime: "But that arrangement hasn't changed, the regime in power, now known as the SPDC, has drafted a constitution, held a referendum and confirmed…that non-Burman ethnicities will not have any power."
And did he look to the United States for support in the Karen military campaign to force change in Burma?
"Well, from the United States, maybe. But I think perhaps they do not see much national interest in this case. And the Cold War has ended. In the case of Vietnam of course the Cold War was going on. Geopolitics effects, directly or indirectly, our struggle," summarized the Vice-Chairman.
This year, the late General's birthday falls on the eve of Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. It is also just one day after Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Trumpet of Conscience Award, which commemorates the late Martin Luther King, Jr.
US Campaign for Burma's executive director Aung Din, accepting the award on Suu Kyi's behalf, said he hoped Obama would uphold existing economic sanctions against Burma and lead a strong diplomatic effort to organize the international community to pressure the military junta.
Chief editor at the Jakarta Post, Endy M. Bayuni, writing in The New York Times suggested Obama's four years in Jakarta, from 1967 to 1971, when the country was adjusting to the harsh realities of the Sukarno era, will have served him well.
Obama is described as a United States president who has lived under a dictatorship and in a country in which "military control was widespread and . . . students attended indoctrination classes where they would profess their loyalty to the state. Dissent and criticism were not tolerated in public life. There was barely freedom of thought," wrote Bayuni.
Yet, while such comparisons are chilling, it would be reckless to see any promise in historical coincidences.
New Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva may well chart a different course for his country vis-à-vis Burma, but it will not involve cutting back on the Kingdom's commitment to three mega-dams planned for Burma's Salween River, nor reviews of natural gas deals with the junta.
Meanwhile, India's politicians are still basking in the success of securing a deal in September of last year to construct two vast hydropower projects on the Chindwin River.
Further, without agreement among the permanent five Security Council members, all with the power of veto, the United Nations is crippled when it comes to taking any action. As such, unilateral intervention appears the solitary choice Obama is left with when it comes to a definitive move to liberate Burma.
But back along the Thai-Burma border on Tuesday, as a couple sang a duet in the distance, Nerdah Mya said he hoped Obama might be able to do something, to make a significant contribution to change in Burma, but added, "How much he can do is another question."
Asked for a message for the West from the frontlines of the world's longest-running insurgency, Nerdah Mya was blunt, "We must stop the tyranny. We can't just sit and watch. Otherwise more people will die."
In agreement with Nerdah Mya's sentiments is a close friend, Myat Thu, an ethnic Burman and an exile of the 1988 student uprising during which thousands perished and the aftermath of which left thousands more mired in limbo.
He too knew General Bo Mya and was among the founders of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) along the Thai-Burma border.
Bo Mya's army took the ABSDF in and trained them in the discipline of warfare.
In the words of one exile, Win Cho: "I started in 1989. At that time I was fighting with the KNU (Karen National Union). You know I have nothing but respect for the KNU, they helped us so much, until we met them we had nothing, no healthcare, one set of clothes, we had nothing.
Win Cho was an ABSDF commander, but plays down such a vote of confidence from his peers.
"I was hardly a commander, in those days we were totally dependent on the Karen, we didn't go out on operations by ourselves. We hadn't learned how to survive out there by ourselves at that point," elaborated Win Cho.
Both Myat Thu and Win Cho speak highly of Bo Mya and his no-nonsense, uncompromising attitude towards discipline.
As secretary, Myat Thu is a high ranking officer of the newly-formed 2009 Collective Action Committee, a gathering of representatives from the ethnic nationalities, the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the monkhood, whose aim is to "impede the forthcoming bogus elections of 2010".
The collective's motto is drawn from a senior NLD leader, but could just have easily been uttered by Bo Mya himself: "Seek not to escape from this conflict – but rather to confront it and break through it."
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Major Hla Ngwe: Gen. Sec.-1 KNU
DKBA Attacks KNU
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By SAW YAN NAING Monday, January 5, 2009
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Further attacks against the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) look likely to continue after a major clash that began on Saturday, according to Karen sources from both camps.
An armed clash between the KNU’s military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and the breakaway Karen group DKBA broke out on Saturday in the KNLA’s Brigade 6 region in southern Karen State in Eastern Burma.
According to a source close to the DKBA, battalions 907 and 999 moved in against the KNLA Battalion 103 base. However, he said that the Burmese army did not participate in the operation alongside the DKBA troops.
The KNU’s newly elected Joint-Secretary 1 Hla Ngwe said that further attacks against the KNLA soldiers in Brigade 6 are expected as the DKBA has long coveted the region to control business and collect taxes along the Thai-Burmese border.
The area where the clash took place is rich in zinc mines, said the sources.
Hla Ngwe claimed that about six soldiers from a joint-Burmese/ DKBA force were seriously injured during the clash. However, the source close to the DKBA did not confirm any casualties.
Hla Ngwe said that a joint force of Burmese soldiers and DKBA troops have increased attacks around the border areas since late 2008.
Some observers said that the Burmese army and DKBA forces are intent on targeting in 2009 the KNU Brigade 6 region opposite Thailand’s Tak province, including the KNLA military bases in Kawkareik Township in southern Karen State.
A KNLA source said that the Burmese- DKBA troops were preparing to launch an assault mainly against KNLA battalions 201 and 103 in Kawkareik Township.
In late 2008, KNU’s tax department in Brigade 6 stated that the DKBA had plans to wrest control of Kawkareik from the KNLA, expecting to earn from agriculture, logging and mining in the area.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, the source close to the DKBA said, “This is our New Year’s present for the KNU.”
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By SAW YAN NAING Monday, January 5, 2009
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TEXT SIZE
Further attacks against the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) look likely to continue after a major clash that began on Saturday, according to Karen sources from both camps.
An armed clash between the KNU’s military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and the breakaway Karen group DKBA broke out on Saturday in the KNLA’s Brigade 6 region in southern Karen State in Eastern Burma.
According to a source close to the DKBA, battalions 907 and 999 moved in against the KNLA Battalion 103 base. However, he said that the Burmese army did not participate in the operation alongside the DKBA troops.
The KNU’s newly elected Joint-Secretary 1 Hla Ngwe said that further attacks against the KNLA soldiers in Brigade 6 are expected as the DKBA has long coveted the region to control business and collect taxes along the Thai-Burmese border.
The area where the clash took place is rich in zinc mines, said the sources.
Hla Ngwe claimed that about six soldiers from a joint-Burmese/ DKBA force were seriously injured during the clash. However, the source close to the DKBA did not confirm any casualties.
Hla Ngwe said that a joint force of Burmese soldiers and DKBA troops have increased attacks around the border areas since late 2008.
Some observers said that the Burmese army and DKBA forces are intent on targeting in 2009 the KNU Brigade 6 region opposite Thailand’s Tak province, including the KNLA military bases in Kawkareik Township in southern Karen State.
A KNLA source said that the Burmese- DKBA troops were preparing to launch an assault mainly against KNLA battalions 201 and 103 in Kawkareik Township.
In late 2008, KNU’s tax department in Brigade 6 stated that the DKBA had plans to wrest control of Kawkareik from the KNLA, expecting to earn from agriculture, logging and mining in the area.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, the source close to the DKBA said, “This is our New Year’s present for the KNU.”
Loss of Ner Dah Mya's Base camp
Karen rebels under the gun along Thai-Burma border
by Daniel Pedersen
Sunday, 11 January 2009 12:49
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – Burma's ethnic Karen rebels are facing another daunting challenge, as a Burmese military campaign designed to hunt out opposition forces and put an end to the world's longest running civil war is intensifying along a sliver of land opposite northwest Thailand.The Sixth Brigade of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed-wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), is presently engaged in a desperate battle for survival near Thailand's mountainous Umphang region, south of the border town of Mae Sot.Their base camp, which was a relatively new settlement once equipped with solar power, a medical clinic, potable water and fish holding tanks, has been razed to the ground by Burmese soldiers.From a secret location on the Thai-Burma border, KNU Vice-Chairman David Thackerbaw said government soldiers were maintaining a "scorched earth policy" against not only the KNLA, but also Karen civilians.The KNLA, waging the world's longest running civil war, has been battling successive Burmese regimes over six decades in a bid to win self-determination.While the KNLA steadfastly maintains it has avoided casualties during the Burmese Army's latest offensive, its soldiers are now sleeping rough in dense jungle that provides a modicum of security under the cover of darkness. In the daytime they move.Working alongside Burmese Army troops in the hunt for KNLA troops are soldiers from a splinter Karen faction, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). The Burmese Army and the DKBA, working in tandem, are reportedly using Thailand as a launching pad for attacks because the terrain is more navigable and void of the danger of landmines.The DKBA was established in 1994 following the bloody fallout between rival KNU and KNLA leaders; Buddhist commanders said to have upset over the perceived dominance of leadership roles doled out to Christians within the organization.On the evening of Saturday January 3, 2009, the latest offensive by the Burmese Army and DKBA – reportedly consisting of more than 200 men – wrested control of the rebel base camp from the KNLA, who found themselves hopelessly outnumbered and forced to withdraw.The camp had provided the only medical facility for more than 800 villagers clustered in two nearby settlements.Also as a result of the latest offensive, more than 300 people, their homes reduced to ashes, are now purportedly huddled under makeshift shelters, protected from marauding Burmese Army and DKBA troops by Thai soldiers.On Sunday and Monday of the previous week, low-flying Thai military helicopters plied the skies between Mae Sot and the Umphang region, delivering reinforcements and materials to both border forces and the latest batch of refugees to flee the contested region.In a nervy interview in Mae Sot last Tuesday night, the KNLA's Colonel Nerdah Mya said his base camp was in cinders and that he was heading back into this war's newest theatre on Wednesday in a bid to "put everything back together again.""We have to find a new location. We have no location at the moment and are always on the move," expounded the Colonel.Nerdah Mya, the son of recently deceased Karen leader Bo Mya, said about 20 DKBA and government soldiers had been wounded by landmines and that while some were being treated in the field, others had been sent to Umphang and Mae Sot hospitals for amputations.However, he insisted the situation was not critical for his men."We have been coping with this type of situation for many years now, sometimes they send many soldiers to occupy the entire area, but if we keep moving we can get around them," Nerdah Mya added.The KNLA's hold on the area has for years been tenuous at best.The region in question, which surrounds a stretch of land between Thailand and Burma known as Phop Phra, is rich in minerals, including antimony and gold mines as well as zinc and tin deposits.Taiwanese and Thai businessmen are constantly seeking to exploit the resources but are generally defeated by the fact that no matter which side they deal with, adequate security cannot be guaranteed.The battle for control of this region began in earnest last year in late June, when torrential rains were still pounding the area almost daily. Since then Thailand's sovereignty has reportedly been repeatedly compromised by both DKBA and Burmese government troops.At times the Thais have resorted to lobbing mortars at Burmese battalions whose stray shells have forced the evacuation of Thai villages.Phop Phra was once home to one of Thailand's finest teak stands. It was logged by the KNU in decades past, when the organization was on good terms with Thai authorities and viewed as a convenient buffer force between Thai and Burmese troops. Now the region's red clay soil, utterly deforested, is home to fields of corn.But the farmers who grow the corn to sell to Thai businessmen are now forced to pay taxes to both the DKBA and the KNLA for safe passage through their respective territories.December and early January, regarded as the cold season along the Thai-Burmese border, is the best time to reap corn seed, which fetches a higher price than fresh cobs. However, much of the current crop figures to go to waste as the latest round of hostilities enters into its seventh month.Sergio Carmada, a co-founder of the Italian non-governmental organization Popoli, which provided seed, ploughshares and motorcycles toward the KNLA's current crop and also helped fund Colonel Nerdah's destroyed base camp, previously offered his view of this war that began in 1948."In my opinion war for identity is not very popular around the world," stated Carmada."War for democracy is very popular. You can destroy towns and kill hundreds of thousands of people for that. For democracy you can kill everyone. For identity - it's not allowed anymore," he said.A founder of the Free Burma Rangers, U Wa A Pa – a nom de plume of a former foreign soldier, disregards the DKBA as uneducated oafs who don't know what they are fighting for, or why.He further agrees with the KNU's David Thackerbaw that the Burmese Army is employing a scorched-earth policy. He says the situation is even worse for inhabitants of western Karen state as compared with those nearer to Thailand, with villages and crops being constantly torched.Free Burma Rangers provides medical support for villagers on the run from Burmese Army troops in remote areas."I think given a realistic option they [the DKBA] would change sides in a day", he said. "But they need to see that the KNLA can win. They want to be on the winning side."But alas, today, a KNLA victory seems the most unlikely of scenarios.
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by Daniel Pedersen
Sunday, 11 January 2009 12:49
Mae Sot (Mizzima) – Burma's ethnic Karen rebels are facing another daunting challenge, as a Burmese military campaign designed to hunt out opposition forces and put an end to the world's longest running civil war is intensifying along a sliver of land opposite northwest Thailand.The Sixth Brigade of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed-wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), is presently engaged in a desperate battle for survival near Thailand's mountainous Umphang region, south of the border town of Mae Sot.Their base camp, which was a relatively new settlement once equipped with solar power, a medical clinic, potable water and fish holding tanks, has been razed to the ground by Burmese soldiers.From a secret location on the Thai-Burma border, KNU Vice-Chairman David Thackerbaw said government soldiers were maintaining a "scorched earth policy" against not only the KNLA, but also Karen civilians.The KNLA, waging the world's longest running civil war, has been battling successive Burmese regimes over six decades in a bid to win self-determination.While the KNLA steadfastly maintains it has avoided casualties during the Burmese Army's latest offensive, its soldiers are now sleeping rough in dense jungle that provides a modicum of security under the cover of darkness. In the daytime they move.Working alongside Burmese Army troops in the hunt for KNLA troops are soldiers from a splinter Karen faction, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). The Burmese Army and the DKBA, working in tandem, are reportedly using Thailand as a launching pad for attacks because the terrain is more navigable and void of the danger of landmines.The DKBA was established in 1994 following the bloody fallout between rival KNU and KNLA leaders; Buddhist commanders said to have upset over the perceived dominance of leadership roles doled out to Christians within the organization.On the evening of Saturday January 3, 2009, the latest offensive by the Burmese Army and DKBA – reportedly consisting of more than 200 men – wrested control of the rebel base camp from the KNLA, who found themselves hopelessly outnumbered and forced to withdraw.The camp had provided the only medical facility for more than 800 villagers clustered in two nearby settlements.Also as a result of the latest offensive, more than 300 people, their homes reduced to ashes, are now purportedly huddled under makeshift shelters, protected from marauding Burmese Army and DKBA troops by Thai soldiers.On Sunday and Monday of the previous week, low-flying Thai military helicopters plied the skies between Mae Sot and the Umphang region, delivering reinforcements and materials to both border forces and the latest batch of refugees to flee the contested region.In a nervy interview in Mae Sot last Tuesday night, the KNLA's Colonel Nerdah Mya said his base camp was in cinders and that he was heading back into this war's newest theatre on Wednesday in a bid to "put everything back together again.""We have to find a new location. We have no location at the moment and are always on the move," expounded the Colonel.Nerdah Mya, the son of recently deceased Karen leader Bo Mya, said about 20 DKBA and government soldiers had been wounded by landmines and that while some were being treated in the field, others had been sent to Umphang and Mae Sot hospitals for amputations.However, he insisted the situation was not critical for his men."We have been coping with this type of situation for many years now, sometimes they send many soldiers to occupy the entire area, but if we keep moving we can get around them," Nerdah Mya added.The KNLA's hold on the area has for years been tenuous at best.The region in question, which surrounds a stretch of land between Thailand and Burma known as Phop Phra, is rich in minerals, including antimony and gold mines as well as zinc and tin deposits.Taiwanese and Thai businessmen are constantly seeking to exploit the resources but are generally defeated by the fact that no matter which side they deal with, adequate security cannot be guaranteed.The battle for control of this region began in earnest last year in late June, when torrential rains were still pounding the area almost daily. Since then Thailand's sovereignty has reportedly been repeatedly compromised by both DKBA and Burmese government troops.At times the Thais have resorted to lobbing mortars at Burmese battalions whose stray shells have forced the evacuation of Thai villages.Phop Phra was once home to one of Thailand's finest teak stands. It was logged by the KNU in decades past, when the organization was on good terms with Thai authorities and viewed as a convenient buffer force between Thai and Burmese troops. Now the region's red clay soil, utterly deforested, is home to fields of corn.But the farmers who grow the corn to sell to Thai businessmen are now forced to pay taxes to both the DKBA and the KNLA for safe passage through their respective territories.December and early January, regarded as the cold season along the Thai-Burmese border, is the best time to reap corn seed, which fetches a higher price than fresh cobs. However, much of the current crop figures to go to waste as the latest round of hostilities enters into its seventh month.Sergio Carmada, a co-founder of the Italian non-governmental organization Popoli, which provided seed, ploughshares and motorcycles toward the KNLA's current crop and also helped fund Colonel Nerdah's destroyed base camp, previously offered his view of this war that began in 1948."In my opinion war for identity is not very popular around the world," stated Carmada."War for democracy is very popular. You can destroy towns and kill hundreds of thousands of people for that. For democracy you can kill everyone. For identity - it's not allowed anymore," he said.A founder of the Free Burma Rangers, U Wa A Pa – a nom de plume of a former foreign soldier, disregards the DKBA as uneducated oafs who don't know what they are fighting for, or why.He further agrees with the KNU's David Thackerbaw that the Burmese Army is employing a scorched-earth policy. He says the situation is even worse for inhabitants of western Karen state as compared with those nearer to Thailand, with villages and crops being constantly torched.Free Burma Rangers provides medical support for villagers on the run from Burmese Army troops in remote areas."I think given a realistic option they [the DKBA] would change sides in a day", he said. "But they need to see that the KNLA can win. They want to be on the winning side."But alas, today, a KNLA victory seems the most unlikely of scenarios.
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