Union-Tribune: Myanmar acknowledges attacking Karen ethnic area
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Aye Aye Win, Union-Tribune, Myanmar acknowledges attacking Karen ethnic area in largest offensive in a decade, May 14, 2006
THABYENYUNT, Myanmar – In a rare admission for the secretive junta, Myanmar's ruling military acknowledged that its army is targeting the Karen ethnic minority, saying the offensive is necessary to suppress bombings and other anti-government attacks.
The junta criticized the United States for granting a waiver to thousands of ethnic Karen to be considered for political asylum, saying it was an attempt to bring down Myanmar's government by recruiting exiles for an invasion force.
The acknowledgment of the offensive came Saturday on a press trip arranged by the government to a remote part of the Karen area affected by the fighting. Refugees and aid groups say the offensive is marked by killings, torture, forced relocations, land mines and destruction of food supplies.
The Karen people have sought autonomy in Myanmar, also called Burma, for nearly six decades in one of the world's longest-running insurgencies. The conflict has uprooted hundreds of thousands of Karen, including well over 100,000 now in refugee camps in Thailand.
The Karen National Union, the 58-year-old resistance group, has held sporadic but fruitless cease-fire talks with the ruling junta.
“We have to launch military offensives against the KNU because since early this year, the KNU stepped up its destructive acts such as exploding a series of bombs and laying mines on rail lines,” Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan told reporters at Thabyenyunt village in Kayin state, also known as Karen state, in eastern Myanmar.
Kyaw Hsan said accounts of refugee problems were largely propaganda concocted by the rebels.
“By giving the limelight to the fabricated stories of refugees, they intend to accuse Myanmar of becoming a threat to the region, in order to instigate the U.N. Security Council to take action against Myanmar,” Kyaw Hsan said.
Associated Press reporters last week visited a makeshift settlement of between 700 and 900 displaced Karen civilians, and found that they are living in poor conditions with no reliable way to sustain themselves.
Kyaw Hsan also questioned the U.S. decision to grant a waiver to thousands of ethnic Karen refugees who normally would be barred from entering the United States under laws designed to combat terrorism.
“The waiver applies only to the so-called refugees who are nothing but KNU terrorists, their families, relatives and hardcore (supporters) who live near the border,” Kyaw Hsan said.
The State Department announced this month that it had waived provisions of U.S. anti-terror laws to allow about 9,300 members of the Karen minority to be considered for political asylum.
The Karens had been declared ineligible for asylum because the Homeland Security Department determined they had “provided material support” to the Karen National Union.
Kyaw Hsan said it reminded him of how the CIA recruited and trained Cuban exiles in the early 1960s to try to overthrow the Castro regime in what became the failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion.
On Thursday, British lawmakers called for urgent aid to Karen refugees, joining growing calls for the U.N. Security Council to act swiftly against the offensive that has uprooted more than 11,000 members of the ethnic minority. U.S. congressmen, the European Union and human rights groups have launched similar appeals.
The Karen, many of them Christians, are among several ethnic minorities in mostly Buddhist Myanmar. Most live in remote areas and have radically different culture and traditions from the Burman majority.
THABYENYUNT, Myanmar – In a rare admission for the secretive junta, Myanmar's ruling military acknowledged that its army is targeting the Karen ethnic minority, saying the offensive is necessary to suppress bombings and other anti-government attacks.
The junta criticized the United States for granting a waiver to thousands of ethnic Karen to be considered for political asylum, saying it was an attempt to bring down Myanmar's government by recruiting exiles for an invasion force.
The acknowledgment of the offensive came Saturday on a press trip arranged by the government to a remote part of the Karen area affected by the fighting. Refugees and aid groups say the offensive is marked by killings, torture, forced relocations, land mines and destruction of food supplies.
The Karen people have sought autonomy in Myanmar, also called Burma, for nearly six decades in one of the world's longest-running insurgencies. The conflict has uprooted hundreds of thousands of Karen, including well over 100,000 now in refugee camps in Thailand.
The Karen National Union, the 58-year-old resistance group, has held sporadic but fruitless cease-fire talks with the ruling junta.
“We have to launch military offensives against the KNU because since early this year, the KNU stepped up its destructive acts such as exploding a series of bombs and laying mines on rail lines,” Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan told reporters at Thabyenyunt village in Kayin state, also known as Karen state, in eastern Myanmar.
Kyaw Hsan said accounts of refugee problems were largely propaganda concocted by the rebels.
“By giving the limelight to the fabricated stories of refugees, they intend to accuse Myanmar of becoming a threat to the region, in order to instigate the U.N. Security Council to take action against Myanmar,” Kyaw Hsan said.
Associated Press reporters last week visited a makeshift settlement of between 700 and 900 displaced Karen civilians, and found that they are living in poor conditions with no reliable way to sustain themselves.
Kyaw Hsan also questioned the U.S. decision to grant a waiver to thousands of ethnic Karen refugees who normally would be barred from entering the United States under laws designed to combat terrorism.
“The waiver applies only to the so-called refugees who are nothing but KNU terrorists, their families, relatives and hardcore (supporters) who live near the border,” Kyaw Hsan said.
The State Department announced this month that it had waived provisions of U.S. anti-terror laws to allow about 9,300 members of the Karen minority to be considered for political asylum.
The Karens had been declared ineligible for asylum because the Homeland Security Department determined they had “provided material support” to the Karen National Union.
Kyaw Hsan said it reminded him of how the CIA recruited and trained Cuban exiles in the early 1960s to try to overthrow the Castro regime in what became the failed “Bay of Pigs” invasion.
On Thursday, British lawmakers called for urgent aid to Karen refugees, joining growing calls for the U.N. Security Council to act swiftly against the offensive that has uprooted more than 11,000 members of the ethnic minority. U.S. congressmen, the European Union and human rights groups have launched similar appeals.
The Karen, many of them Christians, are among several ethnic minorities in mostly Buddhist Myanmar. Most live in remote areas and have radically different culture and traditions from the Burman majority.
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