KNU calls for international cooperation in assisting Karen civilians
Posted on March 2, 2010
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With the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), Burma’s ruling military junta stepping up its attacks on civilians in Karen State and Karen refugees in Thailand facing an uncertain future, the Karen National Union (KNU) has called for international and local cooperation to assist civilians forced to flee their homes.
In a statement by the KNU’s Central Committee, they urged “the international community and the entire Karen people to continue their cooperation and participation to resolve the increasing difficulties and problems faced by the civilian populations, who have to flee and take refuge in the border areas, due to military offensives by the SPDC.”
The Central Committee met last week following the 14th KNU Congress. In a statement, they condemned the junta for targeting innocent civilians, accusing the junta of treating civilians as enemies for annihilation.
The Burmese Army is reported to be preparing to launch an offensive against the Karen national Liberation Army (KNLA)’s 3rd Brigade, inside Karen State.
Last year, a joint offensive by the Burmese Army and its allies in the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) captured the KNLA’s 7th Brigade headquarters.
Prior to the fall of 7th Brigade, the DKBA were forcibly recruiting villagers to work as porters, this lead to several thousand villagers fleeing across the border to Thailand (see: 7th Brigade Headquarters falls).
However, although the villagers have been able to remain in Thailand, the Thai authorities are eager for them to return home. And, last month, they were forced to abandon a plan to forcibly return the refugees to Burma after an international outcry, that included protests from members of the US Congress (see: Repatriation put on hold for now… sort of).
However, the refugees’ future still remains uncertain.
The Central Committee also repeated its objections to elections the junta plans to hold later this year. “The meeting decided not to recognize entirely and to vigorously oppose the 2010 general election which is merely an extension of the 2008 constitution that was unilaterally drafted and adopted through fraud and coercion by the SPDC,” said the statement.
They also pledged to continue their policy of eradicating production, trafficking and abuse of narcotic drugs.
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