"A forgotten war" from Mainichi Dai

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Mainichi Daily News
Thursday, April 16, 1998

A forgotten war

Attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand have recently focused a rare
spotlight on the Karen's rebellion against the Burmese government.  Richard
Humphries reports


In the early post-World War II years, Burma's Karen leaders were alarmed.
Burmese nationalism was about to lead that country toward independence. The
British colonial rulers, having used a convenient divide-and-rule strategy,
had played off the country's ethnic groups against each other. Political
ideologies about nationalism and the nation-state, many of them Western
imports, increasingly gained favor with the myriad competing factions and
ethnic groups in the country and seemed to cancel out any previous good
relationships between them.

The Karen minority, for instance, had been loyal to the Crown. Armed by the
British, they had fought the Imperial Japanese Occupation Forces and its?
until 1945?Burmese allies, the Burmese Independence Army. Now the Karen,
fearing marginalization and perhaps a settling of scores in an independent
Burma, wanted a homeland of their own. Their people had also suffered
greatly during the war. If their demands for an autonomous region couldn't
be met, they were more than willing to fight. The Karen National Union (KNU)
was formed in February 1947 to press Karen demands.

The man who would lead Burma to independence, Aung San, had promoted a
political program of "Unity and Diversity" and was sympathetic towards
minority concerns. Attempts were made to devise a national structure that
would allay minority fears of domination. Some ethnic groups showed an
interest. The Karen were not satisfied though and, citing their past
loyalty, petitioned the British Colonial Office to act on their behalf. They
were ignored. Then, Aung San's assassination on July 14, 1947, hardened the
political dialogue and set the stage for the tragedy that was to follow?the
world's longest-running civil war.

The British left on Jan. 4, 1948, washing their hands of a situation they
had certainly helped create. Tensions mounted between the newly independent
Burmese government, led by U Nu, and the KNU, then led by Saw Ba U Gyi,
which by then had an armed wing under its control. In January 1949 war broke
out. It continues today.

In 1949, Karen military units were at Insein, in the Irrawaddy River delta
and 14.5 kilometers from Rangoon. They seemed poised to make their demands a
reality. "Kawthoolei" (Flowerland) was the name the KNU had decided to call
its putative state. Rangoon, however, wasn't captured. It was to be the
high-water mark of the Karen's military struggle. Factionalism among the
Karen and difficulties in organized a unified approach by all groups opposed
to Rangoon hurt, but the key element was the fierce Burmese Army offensives
that gradually whittled away Karen territory.

The late 1960s saw a Burmese counterinsurgency strategy known as the Four
Cuts (targeting the rebels' sources of food, funds, intelligence, and
recruits) Program being implemented. Most Karen insist that the fourth cut
was to be their heads.

The war now entered deep into the Karen State. Human rights abuses by the
Burmese military against Karen villagers were, and certainly still are,
pervasive. Over 100,000 Karen have now fled to Thailand. This is the real
tragedy and many Karen in their hearts wish that the fighting would just stop.

In January l995, the Karen rebel movement faced a severe reversal when its
permanent headquarters at Manerplaw, along the Moei River, fell to the
Burmese army. Thought impregnable, it fell because of a split in Karen ranks
that may have been engineered, and was certainly encouraged, by the Burmese
military. It was based on a perceived favoritism towards Christians within
the KNU leadership. Other Karen bases were soon overrun and the few that
remain are referred to as "mobile bases" in news reports. A dissident Karen
faction allied with the Burmese Army, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
(DKBA) now operates in the same region, attacking Karen refugee camps
located within Thailand. On March 11, 1998, one such camp, Huay Kalok, with
9,000 inhabitants, was attacked and burned to the ground.

The Karen future seems bleak. The Burmese government, now known as the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) refuses to negotiate with the
minorities collectively, but only on a one-by-one basis and from a position
of overwhelming military strength. It now has over 400,000 armed soldiers.
The KNU, with at the very most a few thousand soldiers, is among the last
opposition groups still fighting. It is a war it cannot win militarily.
The KNU forces were referred to as the "world's most pleasant and civilized
guerrilla army" in the Far Eastern Economic Review of March 2, 1979. Blowing
up passenger planes and seizing foreign hostages are not on the menu. Opium
is not grown and there is a strict anti-drugs policy. Still, as the war has
continued unabated, the KNU has come under very strong criticism recently
with regard to organization, tactics, and policy. Their voice, however, is
not often heard in the media.

The idea that true democracy will come to Burma and that a way will be found
to integrate the country's ethnic groups into a sincere political dialogue
capable of achieving lasting results is as far away as it was in the 1940s.
Over the years, meetings have been held between the KNU and Burmese
authorities about possible settlements but with no results and no lasting
cease-fire. A recent attempt at an unofficial cease-fire in 1994 ended when
the Burmese resumed large-scale fighting in order to seize Manerplaw. The
KNU fights on while the Karen population in Burma suffers and refugees in
Thailand continue to live in fear of attack and of occasional threats by the
Thais to forcibly repatriate them. An entire culture is facing the threat of
disappearance and what distresses the Karen most is their perception than
the world simply doesn't seem to care.

All the armed groups in this conflict bear a responsibility for the endless
violence. Surely the greatest blame must lie with the Burmese Army and the
junta that controls it. They are ultimately responsible for Burma's failure
to deal equitably with minority concerns and to establish a civil society
guaranteeing freedom of expression for all of Burma's peoples. Forced labor
is employed throughout the country, even in areas like Pagan where tourists
visit. Village burnings, rapes, murders, and extortion by the powerful
military are frequent and go unpunished. Real political dialogue is a
dialogue of the deaf. The junta isn't listening. The country's most
respected political figure, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of Aung San, is
denied any real role in effecting change. The jails are full of political
dissidents and health care is deteriorating.

Watching Myanmar (Burma) Television broadcasts in Thailand, I reflected that
even the most numb observer couldn't help but take notice of the
totalitarian face of the regime. What you see on the screen are uniformed
soldiers everywhere in charge, and a lot of Burmese people who rarely smile.
This is how the regime wants to be seen, as well.

Something will have to change. General Bo Mya, the KNU leader, acknowledged
as much when he said that, "The civil war which is basically a political
problem, cannot be solved by military means."

It is imperative that all those with guns put them down and that real
political dialogue begins and needed change occurs. For the Karen, time is
running out.

(Richard Humphries is a free-lance journalist and frequent traveler in Asia.
He is also a regular Asia Focus contributor. All photos by Richard Humphries.)

 - - - - - -

Rebels no longer seeking separate nation

by RICHARD HUMPHRIES

"There shall be no surrender.

"The recognition of Karen State must be completed.

"We shall retain our own armies.

"We shall decide our own political destiny."

Times have changed somewhat since the "Four Principles of the Karen
Revolution" were put forward by Saw Ba U Gyi in 1950. In a secret meeting in
March, a senior official of the (Karen National Union) KNU talked about the
organization and its policies and how priorities have changed.

Asked why the KNU is still fighting a war that it has said it should have
stopped a long time ago, the official said that the KNU "don't want to fight
anymore, we are not warmongers.

"We try to find the ways and means to achieve it, but on the contrary, the
other side is not sincere. And thirdly, we have no choice but to defend
ourselves. In order to survive, we have to fight."

Although the KNU is determined to keep fighting, the rebels are no longer
pushing to have a separate state.

"We want a federal union with equal rights and self-determination for all of
Burma's peoples?in short?a democratic federal union. We'll see about the
situation and may use something like the Swiss type of democracy or the U.S.
one."

In the meantime, though, the KNU will continue fighting. However, since the
fall of Manerplaw it has changed its tactics and is now engaging in
guerrilla warfare.

"Every month there are at least 100 skirmishes with the enemy. Apart from
that, the SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council, the previous
Orwellian name of the Burmese ruling junta) still uses the policy of ethnic
cleansing. When they come to the villages, not only do they fight with our
regiments, they shoot and kill everyone and they try to eliminate the Karen,
even small children, old men or women, it doesn't matter."

Despite the recent attacks on refugee camps by the Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army (DKBA) faction, the KNU is still prepared to have a reconciliation with
the dissident faction, the official said. However, the DKBA will have to
stop fighting and "no longer be
stooges of SLORC before any reconciliation can take place.

The official said that the KNU is no ragtag rebel group, but has a
well-organized structure.
"There is a Central Committee of 35 persons, with another 20 people in
reserve. They were elected in the last Congress held in 1995. Above that
body is the Central Executive Committee of eleven persons. The chairman of
that committee is Gen. Bo Mya, our leader. Below the Chairman is the Vice
Chairman, the General Secretary, the First Joint General Secretary and so
on. We have eight ministries or departments: Defense, Alliance and Foreign
Affairs Social Welfare, Finance, Economics, Organization and Information,
Administration, and Judicial. We have established seven districts in our
area. With regard to military, we have seven brigades.

"Of the eight departments, some could be functioning well but some are not."

The KNU agrees with Burma's leading dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, in opposing
foreign companies investing in Burma for now.

"Those who are investing should realize that it is not the time yet to
invest in Burma because what they invest will benefit the SLORC regime but
we can't say what our investment policy will be if democracy comes to Burma
because it depends on the total political situation."

The official said the KNU is grateful to Japan for its past help and hopes
that it will continue to assist Burma. As Japan is a democratic country, the
Japanese people should help Burma to achieve democracy. The rebels are also
"thankful" to Japan for stopping aid to Burma after the Rangoon regime
suppressed a democracy uprising in 1988.

In light of the lack of democracy in Burma, the rebels disagree with the
recent resumption of aid to Burma by the Japanese government.

"We, in our concern, think that it is not appropriate to do that but to
stick to their original policy. If the Japanese make investments in Burma
after the establishment of democracy it will be very good for the people of
Burma and it will also benefit the Japanese people as well. If the Japanese
government helps the Burmese people to achieve democracy, the people in
Burma will never forget the help provided by Japan," the official said.
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