SCMP-Karen fighters mark 50 years o

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Subject: SCMP-Karen fighters mark 50 years of rebellion

Monday  February 1  1999

Burma

Karen fighters mark 50 years of rebellion

Closer look: a senior officer reviews young fighters parading during
yesterday's ceremony marking the Karen National Union's 50 years of struggle
for independence from Burma. Reuters photo
AGENCIES in Tadoh Thutah
Beleaguered veterans of one of the world's longest wars marked the 50th
anniversary of the start of their struggle with little fanfare yesterday.

A parade of fewer than 200 guerilla fighters from the Karen National Union
(KNU) took part in a brief, sombre ceremony presided over by their ageing
leader, General Bo Mya, who urged them to continue the fight for autonomy.

The rest of the Karen force, which has dwindled to, at most, 3,000 fighters
from a peak of 25,000, was dispersed in jungle camps watching for Burmese
junta soldiers.

"The Karen people settled in this land long before the Burman [Burmese]
emerged and took it over," the rebel leader said at Tadoh Thutah, a clearing
on the Moei River that separates Burma from Thailand.

"If we do not achieve victory we will be subjected to enslavement again and
we will be wiped out from this land."

Dressed in army fatigues, the increasingly frail 72-year-old KNU president
inspected the parade while a guitarist played the Karen national anthem.

He handed out medals for meritorious service to 10 elderly guerillas who
have been fighting since 1949. Only one, General Pler Kho, is still on
active service, aged 65.

"I never imagined I would have to fight this long," he said.

"When I was 15, the leaders told me we'd win in six months."

Around 93,000 Karen have fled to Thailand over the years.

Two hundred of them, dressed in traditional red ponchos, crossed the river
to join in celebratory dancing.

There was little, however, to celebrate.

The Karen have been severely weakened as other ethnic groups who were their
allies against the Rangoon junta have signed ceasefire agreements.

The KNU has held several meetings to talk peace with Rangoon but all have
ended in failure.

General Bo Mya blamed foreign countries, especially Burma's fellow members
in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for strengthening the
position of the junta.