History of Kawthoolei (The Karen State)

History of Karen refugees in Thailand

  History of Kawthoolei (The Karen State) in general

KNU claim SLORC inciting religious split in Thailand

By Yindee Lertcharoenchok, in the Nation (Bangkok), 14 January, 1995. The Christian-led Karen National Union (KNU) is largest ethnic guerilla group that refuses to negotiate with Myanmar. It accuses the Myanmar State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) of sending Buddhist missionaries among the Karen refugees to divide their opposition to Myanmar.

KNU leader seized in Thailand by defectors

The BurmaNet News, 13 February 1995. A key Karen guerrilla leader of the KNU, Padoh Mahn Yin Sein, was kidnapped by Karen Buddhist defectors who illegally crossed the Moei River into a refugee camp in Thailand's Tha song Yang district of Tak.

Thousands of refugees from Myanmar

From Amnesty International. 12 March 1997. Thai government change of policy to refuse asylum could cause great harm to the Karen refugees.

Hill tribes; plight of the long-neck Karens

Twenty-one Karen villagers, arrested in November 1992, are acquitted of murder, armed robbery and arson in connection with a series of armed raids because of a lack of sufficient evidence. From the Bangkok Post, 16 November 1997.

Karen refugees flee to avoid forced relocation

By Craig Skehan, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 March 1998. Thousands of Karen refugees from Burma have fled from three camps in north-western Thailand to avoid efforts to move them outside the Salween National Park. Illegal logging of highly valuable teak trees in the national park is one reason. Instead of accepting resettlement, many disappeared into the dense forest, hoping to join the Mae Hta camp on the Salween River.

Raiders burn Karen refugee camp, leaving 9,000 homeless

Associated Press, 11 March 1998. Marauders from Myanmar burnt the Huay Ko Lo Karen refugee camp six kilometres inside Thailand. Refugees said the marauders were members of the Democratic Karen Myanar Army _ a splinter group of Karen allied with the Myanmar government, and Myanmar army troops.

Attacks on refugee camps

Amnesty International Urgent Action Bulletin, 23 March 1998. AI suggests that the refugee camps housed civilians [but they may have been guerillas from Manerplaw, rather than civilians]. The camps are in Tak Province, northwestern Thailand. AI says were attacked by the Democratic Buddhist Army (DKBA), a breakaway ethnic Karen armed opposition group allied to the Myanmar military.

Statement on the seizure of the hospital in Ratchaburi, Thailand, by Karen solders of God's Army

An initial statement by the KNU (Karen National League), in BurmaNet News 26 January 2000. Analysis of the factors behind the attack on the hospital in Thailand by God's Army.

Raid routs Burma's 12-year-old black-tongued twins

By John Aglionby, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 January 2000. God's Army, the Burmese rebels who attacked the hispital on the 25th were motivated by a powerful cocktail of Christian militancy, decades of ethnic persecution, and fanatical loyalty to their child commanders, Johnny and Luther Htoo.

Hospital seige puts Karens under Thai microscope

From BurmaNet News, 27 January 2000. A series of terrorist acts by Karen Christians will worsen the already poor treatment of Karen refugees in Thailand.

Thai Rescuers Executed Rebels, Witnesses Say; 'We shot faster' in firefight, official reports

By Seth Mydans, New York Times Service, in International Herald Tribune, 27 January 2000. Questions over how th Thai government handed the hospital hostage situation. Article reflects western distaste for summary judgement given to Christians.

Hostage Thailand

Editorial, Straits Times Interactive, 27 January 2000. Confronted by Karen guerillas-turned-terrorists, Thailand had no choice but to do what it did -- act tough. It was the second time in three months that the Thais were held hostage by Myanmar rebels fighting the Yangon government. Last October, five gunmen who called themselves the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors seized the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok to protest against Yangon's treatment of pro-democracy dissidents.

Rebels weren't executed

By Anucha Charoenpo, Bangkok Post, 28 January 2000. More on the police handling of the hostage situation. The account of the Thai police.

God, What an army

From BurmaNet, 29 January 2000. Concerning the raid on the Ratchaburi hospital in Thailand by Christian fundamentalists from Burma, on 25 January. This God's Army had split from the KNU, which was adopting a concilitary stand toward the government of Myanmar.

Child soldiers born of conflict and isolation

Craig Skehan, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 January 2000. God's Army in the context of world abuse of children and use of children in the military.

God's Army

By Gary Lane, Christian Broadcasting Network News, 8 March 2000. A western Christian perspective, which can't excuse the taking of the hospital, but seeks to shift any blame from Christian fundamentalist ideology and Christian missionaries.

Is the news media making too much of Karen twins, Johnny and Luther?

The Straits Times Interactive, 11 April 2000. Concerning Johnny and Luther Htoo, the two Christian fundamentalist guerillas, and Luther's interview with the New York Times. The West's obsession with them.

God's Army short of food and losing support

The Straits Times Interactive. 11 April 2000. God's Army has split into three small groups, two of which are led by the twins and the third by another 12-year-old.