KNU warns of junta’s sham elections
Posted on February 18, 2010
Filed Under Burma news, Karen news | Comments Off
Karen villagers flee attacks source: Free Burma Rangers
The Karen National Union is warning the international community cannot be taken in by promises of free and fair elections by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as Burma ruling military junta chooses to be known.
In a statement released this week, the KNU calls upon the international community to pay attention to what is really happening on the ground in Burma rather than focus on the elections the junta has promised to hold later this year.
In recent weeks, the Burmese Army has launched fresh attack against villages in Karen State.
“A dictatorship genuinely committed to a transition to democracy does not send its troops to attack innocent civilians, to burn down their homes, to torture and execute them. The international community should judge the generals by their actions, not their words which have proved to be false time and again,” said the KNU statement.
Burmese troops entered two Karen villages on February 7 and burned them down. 74 houses were destroyed and hundreds of villagers were forced to flee. “Around 2,500 people are now hiding in the jungle, in desperate need of aid,” they said.
The KNU are calling on the United Nations Security Council to demand the SPDC immediately cease its attacks on innocent civilians and take steps to ensure aid reaches those displaced by the attacks.
The KNU has previously dismissed the junta’s planned elections and called for tri-partite talks between the junta, the democratic opposition and ethnic groups (see: KNU dismisses planned elections). Now, they warn, “as thousands of civilians flee new military attacks, there should not be excuses for further delay.”
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