PAGE OF INTRODUCTION OF THE KAREN



　　　TODAY,NEARLY 100,000 NUMBER OF THE DISPLACED PERSONS FROM BURMA, WARE LIVE IN BORDER AREA IN THAILAND.BECAUSE OF THE BURMESE MILITARY JUNTA HAS GIVEN PREESSURE TO THE PEOPLE WHO WANTS DEMOCRACY,AND THE MINOLITIES THAT NATIONAL WANTS LIVES WITH DIGNITY AND PEACE. THE NUMBER OF RREFUGEES WERE GETTING INCLEASE MORE NOW.
　　　DKBA(=Democratic Kayin Buiddist Army)WARE WORK TOGETHER WITH MILITARY JUNTA [SLORC=STATE,LAW,ORDER,RESTORATION COUNCIL],SOME COMBINED TROOPS WARE ATTACKED REFUGEES CAMP IN THAILAND,MANY TIMES AFTER 1995.THEY USED MORTORS,AND SOME RPG(ANTI-TANK WEAPON) WARE FOUND FROM IN THE BUNKERHILL,MIGHT BE AFTER MADE HOLE ON TROUGH BARRACKS. OVER 10,000 HOUSES WARE BACOME ASHES ALREADY.
　　　ON 21 DEC,1995,WHEN THE SLORC GOV'T START TO TALK WITH KAREN NATIONAL UNION, THEIR TROOPS ATTACKED SMALL KAREN VILLAGE ON SAME DAY.



/SOME OF THE KAREN REVOLUTION FIGHTERS FOR FREEDOM, AND CAPTURE
WEAPONS FROM BURMESE GOVERNMENT FORCE.
　　　BURMA is characterised by a remarkable ethnic diversity and the Karens are probably one of the largest ethnic group in Burma. They live in the eastern mountains and the Irrawaddy Delta region, and they depend on the land for their daily existence.
　　　However, today, more than 75,000 over Karens are forced out of their land as a result of systematic persecution by the Burmese military on ordinary Karen civilians. Throughout history, the Burmese have been practising annihilation, absorption and assimilation in order to reign over the Karen race.
　　　In the mid-1960s, the Burmese military drew up a strategy known as the Pya-Ley-Pya (Four Cuts);a counter-insurgency programme designed to cut the main links(food, funds, intelligence and recuits) between insurgents, their families and local villagers. This has led to the mounting Karen villagers fleeing their homes,to the Thai border. Though a very simple tactic, the Four Cuts has proven devastatingly effective.
　　　The Burmese military government has been accused of being one of the worst Human Rights violators. For example, in order to carry out military campaigns against the ethnic groups, villagers are rounded up to supply logistical support for the Burmese military. They are forced to walk ahead of military columns as human mine-sweepers, others are killled between cross-fires. In addition,villagers are also used as slave labour to build tourist infrastructure, in the Ye-Tavoy railway. Violations are still rampant and the military justifies these actions as necessary to maintain order and stability in Burma.
　　　Forced to leave their land, they now live along the Thai-Burmese borders in refugee camps. These camps are scattered along the Burma border for hundreds of kilometres, from Kanchanaburi in the south to Mae Hong Son in the North. However,none of these camps are officially recognized by either the Thai government or the UNHCR.
　　　The Karens are a resilient people who originated in the high Tibetan Plateau,slowly crossed Yunnan, and entered Burma via the Salween and Irrawaddy Valleys.According to one of the legends, the Karen crossed the Gobi Desert to settle along the western edge of China. Some left China to enter the Burmese plains, following the course of the Salween. Some settled in Thailand, while others occupy he coastal area of Mergui and Tavoy toward Moulmein, then moving toward the Irrawaddy Delta. The Karen were originally animist but under the influence of the Burmese, Thai Buddhist and Baptist missionaries, many are now Buddhist and Christians.
　　　Under British rule, the Karen were recuited by the colonial administration to quell the Burmese revolt in 1886 and came to serve both in the army and British police. The British Governor of Burma also administere the Frontier Areas, including the Karen in Salween DIstrict. Karen nationalism grew after World War I, but during World War II, the Karen remained faithful to the British, helping to create an underground to resist the Japanese.
　　　After World War II, Britian granted Burma independence without having found an acceptable solution to the problem of the ethnic minority group. The Karens seek for themselves political self-determination and the protection of Karen language and culture in Burman-majority areas of the Delta.
　　　However, in the drawing up of the 1947 Constitution, the entire question of the Karens was left to be settled after independence. No real definition of Karen ethnicity or Karen territory was made. Though a provision was made to create a future Karen State, but the right of succession was ruled out. The nature of the Constitution which was ridden with contradictions and ambiguities and the absence of Karen representation in the Burmese mission to London in 1947, led the Karens to take action for themselves and insurgency became a way of life for the Karens. The Karen rebelled in February, 1947 and in April, they created their own armed force, the Karen National Defence organisation (KNDO).
　　　The early development of the Karen insurrections went through Bumra like a dose of salt. At one stage in 1949, KNU garrision fought a remarkable battle at Insein, 9 miles from Rangoon. On March 20, 1949, an independent Karen State was declared, with Toungoo as its new capital. However, victory was short-lived. -In 1950,the Karen leader, Saw Ba U Gyi was killed in an ambush by a Burmese unit.
　　　In 1955, the Burmese army retook Papun, traditional capital of the Karen States. However, the Karens continued to fight. In 1956, a new party, the National Liiberation Council (NLC), under General Bo Mya and Bo Yang Naing, was created.
　　　In 1974, a meeting of minority parties, chaired by General Bo Mya was held. The Karens, the Mons, the Chin, and the Shan took part. This was the first step toward the creation of a minority front. The National Democratic Front,(NDF) was created in 1976, with the goal of a Burmese Federation of all races, including ethnic Burman. The NDF acts as a catalyst for a large number of disparate group.
　　　However, over the years, the national minorities had become increasingly peripherial to the mainstream course of political events in Burma. The situation was to change dramatically with the democracy up -rising in 1988. The meetings of poltical dissidents from the cities and insurgent leaders resulted in the Democratic Alliance of Burma, (DAB) in Nov,1988. The military nucleus of the DAB was the 11-party National Democratic Front (NDF), which is today the best known of all Burma's insurgent united fronts.
　　　The fate of KNU took a drastic downhill turn in 1995, a year of great losses for the KNU. The Burmese military embarked on extensive offensive on Karen bases and had instigated the formation of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). DKBA presented itself as an alternative to the KNU. They have accused the Karen leadership of religious discrimination; the lack of opportunity for Buddhists in the Christian-led hierarchy of the KNU. The DKBA provided the Burmese military with the key to Mannerplaw.

/SOME OF VICTIMS FROM THE CHEMICAL WEAPON THAT BURMESE GOVT' ARMY USED.

　　　The Burmese military and the DKBA have organised cross-border raids into Thailand, on the Karen refugee camps as well as Thai targets. This is an attempt to force the Karen villagers to return to Burma. Some refugees have been kidnapped, tortured or killed by DKBA and Burmese soldiers. Thai officers have increased their presence but they are completely ineffective at stopping the DKBA. Everyone in the Northern refugee camps is living in constant fear every night and there is no sign the cross-border attacks are going to cease.
　　　Currently, there have been several peace talks between the Burmese govn't and KNU. However, nothing has come out of it. The Burmese government has demanded a total surrender of KNU, which is out of the question. The fate of the Karen population continues to hang on a thin thread and until a definite and all encompassing political solution can be achieved between the Burmese government and KNU, the Karens will have to continue to live with fear and uncertainty.
　　 　　　　　 　 　　　　　　TEXT By Naw Sylvia, and Saw Stephan Dun.

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