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31-421: [REDACTED] Karen National Union The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army - Brigade 5 ( Burmese : ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်ကရင်အကျိုးပြုတပ်မတော် - တပ်မဟာ 5 ; abbreviated DKBA-5 ), also known as the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army ( Burmese : ဒီမိုကရက်တစ်ကရင်အကျိုးပြုတပ်မတော် ; abbreviated DKBA ) and the Klo Htoo Baw Battalion by the Burmese government, is a Karen Buddhist insurgent group in Myanmar . The group

62-472: A ceasefire agreement with the government on 3 November 2011, though they have not agreed to disarming, unlike their DKBA predecessors in 2010. This article about an organisation in Myanmar is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Karen National Union The Karen National Union ( Burmese : ကရင် အမျိုးသား အစည်းအရုံး ; abbreviated KNU ) is a political organisation with an armed wing,

93-618: A ceasefire with the Myanmar army and was granted business concessions at the expense of the KNU . The KNU and DKBA have since been in regular fighting, with the DKBA actively supported by the Myanmar army. The KNU's effectiveness was severely diminished after its headquarters were captured in the Fall of Manerplaw , near the Thai border, in 1995. The 12th KNU congress was held in 2000, the 13th KNU congress

124-699: A member of the National Unity Consultative Council . Following the coup, the KNU launched an investigation on Nerdah Bo Mya, a commander of the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO), the KNU's other main armed wing, for his role in the extrajudicial execution of 25 men. He refused to cooperate with the investigation and instead formed a splinter group, the Kawthoolei Army. The Kawthoolei Army has since banded with two resistance units,

155-891: Is here that the President, vice-president, General Secretary, Joint Secretaries 1 and 2 and the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the Central Standing Committees (CSC) and candidate members are elected. The seven KNU districts are responsible for electing their own District Chairmen and District Standing Committee leaders every two years. As the District Chairmen and Brigade Commanders are elected at local levels, they are automatically appointed as Central Standing Committee Members. The District Chairmen and Brigade Commanders together with nominated District Standing Committee Members attend

186-732: The Karen National Defence Organisation in their districts. The KNU launched its armed campaign against the Myanma government in early 1949. By the early 1950s, factions within Karen politics were influencing the strategic posture of the KNU. In 1953, Mahn Ba Zan and other KNU leaders established the Karen National Unity Party (KNUP), a communist-influenced group that supported a shift leftward in KNU politics. By 1960, KNUP members had become

217-620: The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Karen people of Myanmar . It operates in mountainous eastern Myanmar and has underground networks in other areas of Myanmar where Karen people live as a minority group . Some of the Karen, led primarily by the Karen National Union (KNU), have waged a war against the central government since early 1949. The aim of the KNU at first

248-712: The Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the government of Myanmar, along with several other insurgent groups. In September 2016, KNLA fighters began clashing with members of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), in the Tanintharyi Region . Both the KNU and NMSP were signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) at the time of

279-531: The CEC will call a CSC Emergency Meeting. Additionally, the Foreign Affairs Department appoints KNU representatives. These representatives are based among the Karen communities who support KNU's political goals and objectives in their respective countries. The incumbent leaders elected at the 15th KNU Congress are: Central Executive Committee Department heads: Bo Mya Bo Mya

310-417: The KNU congresses. In addition, elected Central Standing Committee members would provide the ministers for 14 Departments including Culture, Defence, Education, Forestry, Foreign Affairs, Health, and Mining. The CEC comprises eleven members responsible for the day-to-day running of the KNU. The CSC meets annually when issues arise that directly affect the KNU policies and/or the existence of the KNU organisation,

341-820: The KNU in Hpa-an , the capital of eastern Kayin State . Aung Min , the Railway Minister, and General Mutu Sae Poe of the KNU led the peace talks. In March 2012, a senior political leader of KNU, P'doh Mahn Nyein Maung , was found guilty of high treason under the Illegal Association Act, for his involvement with the Karen rebellion and sentenced to 20 years. He was freed soon afterward and sent back to Thailand. The Karen National Union held its 15th congress at Lay Wah on 26 November 2012. This meeting

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372-603: The KNU trended leftward internally, its outward posture was complicated by the broader alignment of forces within Myanmar. Chinese support for the Communist Party of Burma – a rival of the KNU – led the organisation into a tacit understanding with the Kuomintang , which had been displaced into northern Myanmar following defeat in the Chinese Civil War . Ideological and strategic disagreement precipitated

403-504: The KNU was able to fund its activities by controlling black market trade across the border with Thailand , and through local taxation . After the failed 8888 Uprising of the Myanmar people in 1988, the Myanmar military government turned to China for help in consolidating its power. Various economic concessions were offered to China in exchange for weapons. The Myanmar Army was massively expanded and began to offer deals to groups fighting

434-733: The Karen National Unity Front (KNUF). This reconciliation paved the way both for Bo Mya's ultimate ascension to KNU presidency in 1976. By 1970, following KNUP military defeats in the Irrawaddy Delta, the KNU had become the dominant representative body for the Karen Movement. The 9th KNU congress was held in September 1974, and the 11th KNU congress was held in 1995. Bo Mya dominated the KNU leadership for three decades from 1976 to 2000. For many years,

465-632: The Thai-Burma border, the KNU under his control, and its military wing the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), was probably the most successful of the ethnic rebel organisations fighting Rangoon in the Karen Conflict in the 1970s and 1980s. But by the mid-1990s, the tide was turning against him. A devout Christian of the Seventh-day Adventist Church , Bo Mya had always risked antagonising elements from within

496-607: The Venom Commando and the Lion Battalion, both of which had previously been supervised by the KNLA's Brigade 6. The group announced it will never enter into ceasefire talks with the military unless three conditions are met: The Karen National Union leadership is a democratically elected body with individuals elected at a four-yearly congress. The KNU Congress is recognised as the KNU's supreme legislative body and it

527-602: The breaking away of senior figure Tha Hmwe in April 1963, with approximately 400 men, to found the Karen Revolutionary Council (KRC). The KRC was wound-up following Tha Hmwe's capture in 1964. In KNU-controlled territory along the Thai border, a more successful reaction against the KNUP influence within the KNU took place. These areas, at some distance from KNUP strength in the Irrawaddy Delta, had come under

558-470: The consent of the government. The conference resulted in the formation of a 13-member Nationwide Ceasefire Coordinating Team (NCCT) and the signing of an "11-Point Common Position of Ethnic Resistance Organisations on Nationwide Ceasefire" or the Laiza Agreement. The NCCT's current mandate was to take responsibility on writing the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement based on mutual understanding between

589-629: The different armed groups in the NCCT. At the Law Khee Lah Conference, it was agreed that the NCCT had the mandate to discuss and change the document technically, except at the policy level. When the final document was ready, the respective ethnic organisation leaders decided and discussed with the Union Peacemaking Working Committee (UPWC) on the nationwide ceasefire. On 15 October 2015, the KNU signed

620-485: The dominant figures within KNU structures, despite the KNUP being a "minority" tendency within Karen politics, as described by Paul D. Kenny . The KNUP was strongest in the Irrawaddy Delta . Under KNUP influence, the KNU was centralised, the KNLA was reorganised along Maoist lines, and agricultural cooperatives were created in some KNU-controlled villages. By 1963, the KNU numbered approximately 10,000. As

651-520: The fighting. A temporary bilateral truce was reached between the two groups on 14 March 2018. Tensions between the KNU and the Tatmadaw increased as unrest swept the country following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état . On 27 March 2021, KNU Brigade 5 overran a Myanmar Army base near the Thai border, killing ten soldiers including a deputy battalion commander. The Myanmar army launched multiple airstrikes on Karen villages in retaliation. In 2021, KNU became

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682-580: The government. The groups were offered the choice of co-operating with the military junta or being destroyed. In 1994, a group of Buddhist soldiers in the KNLA, citing discrimination by the KNU's overwhelmingly Christian leadership against the Buddhist Karen majority, broke away and established the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). They were led by U Thuzana , an influential Karen monk. The DKBA quickly agreed to

713-616: The main army and formed the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). They allied themselves with the Burmese military, and led Burmese troops into Manerplaw in December 1994, leading to its capture — the biggest single setback to the Karens in their post-war history. Since then, the KNU and KNLA's effectiveness has gradually diminished. This was demonstrated at the beginning of 2004 when Bo Mya travelled to Yangon (Rangoon), his first visit to

744-476: The predominantly Karen Buddhist and animist KNLA ranks. Although his defenders say he treated both Christians and Buddhists equally, the fact that the top positions of the KNU were filled almost entirely by Christians seemed to confirm the impression that he promoted the minority Christians' interests at the expense of those of the Buddhists and animists. In late 1994, a group of KNLA soldiers broke away from

775-614: The sway of S'gaw Karen figures, especially commanders Shwe Hser and Bo Mya . In 1966, Bo Mya – then head of the Karen Armed Force's Eastern Division – seized control of the Dawna Range and much of the Thai border region and ordered KNUP cadres to leave his territory. Bo Mya was able to maintain an army approximately 10,000 men by taxing illegal trade along the border with Thailand. In 1967, Mahn Ba Zan and four other senior KNUP officials reconciled with Bo Mya, forming

806-667: Was among a significant number of Karens who joined the British — specifically in Bo Mya's case, Force 136 — during World War II , with whom he fought the Japanese from the East Dawna hills in 1944 to 1945. After the Karens declared independence from Burma in 1949, Bo Mya quickly rose to a position of pre-eminence in the Karen movement, earning a reputation as a hard and ruthless operator. Based at Manerplaw ("victory field") close to

837-581: Was held at a pivotal moment in the KNU's history, as it occurred at a time of political in-fighting in regards to how the KNU should negotiate a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government. From 30 October to 2 November 2013, an unprecedented meeting took place at the Kachin Independence Organisation headquarters in Laiza . For the first time, representatives of 17 armed ethnic opposition groups were able to meet in Myanmar with

868-460: Was held from 12 to 16 December 2005, and the 14th KNU congress was held from 6 to 20 October 2008. Padoh Mahn Sha La Phan, the secretary-general of the union was shot dead in his home in Mae Sot , Thailand, on 14 February 2008, possibly by soldiers of the DKBA. In 2009, the KNU's fighting force was reduced to around 3000 to 5000 soldiers, and on 25 June 2009 the KNLA's Brigade 7 headquarters

899-636: Was independence. Since 1976 the armed group has called for a federal system rather than an independent Karen State. The Karen conflict is the second longest internal war in the world after the Dagohoy rebellion in the Philippines, having been waged for 85 years until 1829. The KNU was founded in 1947. Following Myanmar's independence in January 1948, KNU leaders instructed local organisers to establish local defence militias, collectively grouped under

930-670: Was led by Bo Nat Khann Mway , also known as "Saw Lah Pwe", until his death in 2016. The DKBA-5 split from the original Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in 2010 and is loosely affiliated with the Karen National Union . They have also worked with the Arakan Army . During the 2010 general election , the DKBA-5 attacked government troops and security forces in Myawaddy Township , Kayin State . The group signed

961-635: Was overrun. On 2 November 2010, the Karen National Union became a member of an alliance which included the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the Chin National Front (CNF), the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the New Mon State Party (NMSP) and the Shan State Army North (SSA-N). In January 2012, Myanmar's military-backed civilian government signed a ceasefire deal with

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