Karens around the World Celebrate New Year, Contemplate Freedom

Today is the first day of Karen year 2747, a historical recognition of the first Karen migration to the Kawthoolei State of eastern Burma. As they celebrate New Year in communities across the world, expatriate Karens would do well to keep their home-based brethren in mind; those who live in fear daily from the threat of the Burmese forces in Karen State, say several Karen organization leaders.

As Karens around the world celebrate New Year, IDPs can only sit in makeshift camps and wait the next attack. [Photo: KHRG]

Joint-secretary 2 of the Karen Youth Organization, Eh Htoo, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that Karen New Year celebrations were muted across Karen State and, in some parts, many ethnic Karen people were unwilling or too afraid to commemorate the date.  

An estimated 200,000 Karen people are listed as being Internally Displaced Persons in Karen State, eastern Burma, and have little reason for celebrating. Another 130,000 Karen and Karenni people are living as refugees in camps along the Thai-Burmese border, according to the figures of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium.

Instead of singing Happy New Year songs, the Karen IDPs have to keep quiet and be ready in case they have to run and hide, said Hla Henry, secretary of the relief team, Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People.

“IDPs are still living in fear. Fighting occurs almost everyday and they have to run and hide in the jungle,” said Hla Henry, who is also a member of the central executive committee of the KNU. “Nothing changes for them. They constantly face threats and great difficulty.”

He added that numbers of IDPs are increasing in Karen State and that waves of Karen refugees continue to flood into Thailand.

The exodus of Karen from their homeland began soon after the Karen Nation Union took up arms against the Burmese government in 1948. The KNU resorted to armed conflict based on the four guiding principles of Saw Ba U Gyi, the founding father of the Karen revolution:

There shall be no surrender;
The recognition of the Karen State must be complete;
We shall retain our arms; and
We shall decide our own political destiny.

However, due to a lack of unity, the KNU has continually had to contend with severe challenges during its 60-year armed struggle. Indeed some Karen leaders reneged on the first guiding principle and surrendered to the Burmese military government, said Mahn Sha, general secretary of the KNU.

Mahn Sha admitted that the KNU has suffered setbacks and has been systematically weakened and divided by the Burmese regime.    

In 1995, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army—the largest Karen breakaway group—split from the KNU. Since then, instability has reigned. The DKBA launched an armed operation in KNU-controlled areas, driving out villagers, many of whom are now IDPs and refugees. The KNU headquarters of Manerplaw fell that same year after a joint-attack by DKBA soldiers and the Burmese army. 

In December 2003, the KNU and the Burmese junta agreed a ceasefire that became known as the “Gentlemen’s Agreement,” reached at a meeting between a Karen delegation led by the late KNU leader, Gen Bo Mya, and deposed Burmese Prime Minster Gen Khin Nyunt.

However, following Khin Nyunt’s downfall in October 2004 and the defection to the Burmese army of the former head of KNU Brigade 7, Brig-Gen Htain Maung, in early 2007, the KNU broke off all communications with the junta.

Some 300 members of the so-called “KNU/KNLA Peace Council”—a breakaway group led by Brig-Gen Htain Maung—split from the KNU and defected to the regime in February, 2007.

Nevertheless, Mahn Sha remains optimistic in his hopes for change in 2008.

He said that the KNU were resolved to fighting back against the military regime, which is currently planning to launch a renewed operation in Karen State. He added that the KNU would also try to encourage Karen people to be more unified and politically active this year.

“The KNU will also cooperate with opposition groups inside and outside the country in matters relating to change in Burma and increasing the progress of the democracy movement,” said Mahn Sha.

He added: “Working toward our own political destiny, a federal union, democracy and human rights is something we must do by ourselves.