KNU dismisses SPDC claims

Posted on June 17, 2009
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The Karen National Union (KNU) has dismissed claims by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) as Burma’s ruling military junta is formally known, that no government troops are involved in the ongoing clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) along the Thai border, calling them barefaced lies.
In a statement that appeared in state-run media at the weekend, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed a declaration by the European Union’s presidency calling for a ceasefire (see: SPDC rejects EU Declaration). The statement claimed the fighting, which has forced over 4,000 Karen villagers to flee to Thailand, was limited to rival Karen groups.

In a statement, the KNU said, “The SPDC fails to know that though the place where the attack took place is distant and hard for it to reach, the place just on the other side of the border is easily accessible to all the World media, with modern equipment of communication, at any time in any season.”
They said the attack on the KNLA’s 7th Brigade was carried out by a combined force of SPDC troops and its allies from the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), including troops from DKBA Brigades 333, 555 and 999 and the SPDC army IB-88, LIB-202, LIB-203, LIB-205 and LIB-210, under the SPDC army Div-22.
The DKBA broke away from the KNU several years ago and signed a peace treaty with the junta. The KNU claims the SPDC has been forcing the DKBA to take the lead in the current offensive, while its own troops remain in the rear, firing mortars.
Since the offensive began, hundreds of mortar and artillery shells have been fired at Karen positions, forcing local villagers to flee for safety across the border in Thailand (see: Displaced numbers reach 4,000).
The UNHCR has sent a team to the border to assist new arrivals, but the number of people crossing the border is overwhelming aid agencies along the border.
The Karen human Rights Group has called it the largest refugee exodus from Karen State on a single occasion since 1997.

The KNU called upon the junta and the DKBA ro what it called crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, and widespread human rights violations, immediately, and start the process for the resolution of war and conflicts by peaceful means, as called for by the international community.