KNLA Planning For Upcoming Attack

Villagers Fear September Offensive
By SAW YAN NAING Monday, August 17, 2009

EI TU HTA—After overrunning the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 7 headquarters in southern Karen State, a joint Burmese army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) force plans to resume its offensive in northern Karen State in September, and take over the remaining KNLA bases along the Thai-Burmese border.

KNLA Brigade 5 troops prepare to resist the joint Burmese DKBA offensive. (Photo: Saw Yan Naing/ The Irrawaddy)
The Commander of KNLA Brigade 5, Baw Kyaw, said his soldiers will defend the area and its villages to the best of their ability. He expects the offensive will come soon.

“If the DKBA follows the orders of the Burmese army, they are our enemy,” Baw Kyaw told The Irrawaddy in a KNLA controlled area on the border. The KNLA is the military wing of the Karen National Union.

Many Karen villagers in Papun District in northern Karen State and along the Salween River on the Thai-Burmese border are on alert against the joint Burmese and DKBA force, Karen villagers at the border said.

If the offensive succeeds, thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in northern Karen State and more than 4,000 Karen refugees in Ei Tu Hta, a temporary camp on the Salween River, will be forced to flee to Thai soil, Karen sources said.

Wah Eh Htoo, secretary of Ei Tu Hta refugee camp told The Irrawaddy: “Villagers fear the DKBA plan to take over the border.”

Ei Htu Ta camp is located on the Burmese bank of the Salween River in Karen State.

“We told the refugees to pack their pots and plates after meals and be ready to flee with other belongings at any time,” said Wah Eh Htoo.

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