Shan Herald Agency for News |
- Commentary on “KNU delays leadership vote as schism emerges”
- Civilians continue to flee military offensive in Kyaukme
- 60 villagers captured by Burmese army in Muse
| Commentary on “KNU delays leadership vote as schism emerges” Posted: 01 Dec 2016 07:40 AM PST I was inquiring a close friend from within the Karen resistance movement on the postponement of the KNU Congress until next year and what he thought about the leadership. He came back to me with an answer full of frustration and disappointment, where he spelled them out clearly and precisely.  He wrote: The current KNU leadership follows the line of appeasement, capitulation, peace and engagement in development. They bought vote and cheated at the previous KNU Congress. Please see the incisive and blunt comment below. The KNU is doing all of this with their eyes wide open. I blame them and only them for where they are now and where they are headed. It is not that the Tatmadaw, international governments, INGOs, or the devil made them do it: they did it and or doing it themselves. The international Karen community complains about it, but keeps the funding flowing. The KNU/KNLA hardliners complain, but don't offer an attractive competing vision or objectives, have an internal revolution, or form their own political and military organization. The KNU/KNLA foreign supporters/advisers like us complain, but keep supporting them with training and advice. No wonder nothing changes. Simple math: 8-3=5 and.............Talk-Action=0. The KIO/KIA learned their lesson and changed leadership and strategy. The Northern Alliance - Burma, including the Wa, are the ones sticking their necks and lives out now for their principles and now have learn to "go to them to get them away from us". Even the Bengali are fighting back - soon ISIS and other Islamic fundamentalist will join them. All of them said, ENOUGH is ENOUGH!". When is Enough Enough for the Karen? Maybe the Karen need to suffer more like a drunk who looses everything - wife, house, job and still drinks. Then maybe they then will rise up and say "ENOUGH is ENOUGH!!!" They shouldn't have to wait long for more suffering..they are on the Tatmadaw's list once they settle the North with their "Keep the South quiet while fighting in the North" Strategy. Same as the 1994 with their "Keep the North quiet while fighting in the South" Strategy. They will be coming after the Karens sooner than later as they did the Kachins and most recently the Shan State Army-North. But with the continuous weaken military capabilities and lack of political will, the Karens will be easier pickings this time..when the Tatmadaw is ready. Sure no surrender, General Custer did not surrender and we see what happen to him and his soldiers. The military gains over the years by the KNLA/KNDO are being lost,explicitly and implicitly, by the KNU central and district leadership, and those KNLA/KNDO soldiers, who have been killed and maimed for these gains, are being dishonored. | ||
| Civilians continue to flee military offensive in Kyaukme Posted: 01 Dec 2016 03:55 AM PST Civilians in Kyaukme District's Mantong Township continue to flee their homes due to the ongoing conflict between Burmese government forces and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), according to an MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD).
"Fighting has erupted in the town of Mong Maw," she said. "Gunfire was aimed toward the market early in the morning, causing villagers to run. They subsequently fled their homes. "As of yesterday [November 30], some 170 people had arrived in Namtu. Most of them are children, women and elderly people. The menfolk have mostly stayed behind to look after their property. "The number of displaced people [in Kyaukme] has now increased to nearly 800 since fighting between the Burmese army and the TNLA broke out on November 23," she added. Today, the TNLA's News and Information Department posted on its website a report, saying its troops had clashed with Burmese government forces between the villages of Kongmong and Kongngaung in Mantong Township. On November 20, the TNLA, a non-signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, launched a joint military operation alongside its allies – Arankan Army (AA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) – against Burmese military outposts and police stationsin Muse, Namkham and Kutkai townships. As of December 1, fighting was reported to be continuing. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) | ||
| 60 villagers captured by Burmese army in Muse Posted: 01 Dec 2016 12:54 AM PST Around sixty residents of Mong Koe sub-township in northern Shan State's Muse Township were last week captured and detrained by Burmese government forces, according to the Kachin Peace Network (KPN).  Some 70 people were arrested when they were traveling from Mong Koe to a wedding ceremony in Paw Joone Par village on November 20, when they were ordered to stop by Burmese troops. Twelve persons, identified as Chinese individuals, were subsequently released the following day after intervention from Chinese authorities. On November 25, another two ethnic Burmese wedding guests were released; the rest remain in detention. Speaking to Shan Herald, Gum Sha Aung, a spokesperson for the KPN, said, "The Tatmadaw [Burmese government troops] arrested them while they were en route to a wedding ceremony. We therefore demand they all be released immediately." He said that many other villagers from Mong Koe have already fled across the China border to avoid armed clashes in the area between the Tatmadaw and an ethnic alliance comprising the Arakan Army (AA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). The ethnic militias, which have since branded themselves the "Northern Alliance," launched coordinated military offensives on November 20against Burmese units in northern Shan State, including the Muse Township villages of Mong Koe and Parng Zai, the 105-Mile border trade zone, and areas of Namkham and Kutkai tonwships. In a statement on November 29, KPN accused the Burmese military of violating the Geneva Convention by arresting civilians."We call for an immediate end to the conflict," said KPN. "We must all work together to bring peace to the country for the betterment of the people." According to a Myanmar Times report on November 28,some 2,000 civilians have been trapped in the crossfire in the Hai Kaung area between the towns of Pang Zai and Mong Koe. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) |
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