some background information and current situation on the Thai Burmese Border where fighting has broken out between the Burmese military junta and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

1. Situation on the Thai-Burma Border demands emergency assistance!
09/11/2010:
Two decades ago, on 27 May 1990, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory in the first multi-party elections
Burma had seen for decades. However, the NLD and other winning ethnic opposition parties
were never allowed to take power as a democratically elected government. Many opposition
party leaders, students, unionist and elected MP were imprisoned or exiled, while some died in
prison due to torture or because they were denied access to medical services. The results of the
1990 elections have since been officially annulled by the military’s election laws. In the past
decade, a lot of ethnics resistance group have reached case-fire agreements with the junta. All of
them have been forced to join the Border Guard Force (BGF) which is the Border Force of the
Burmese army. Most ceasefire groups have encountered BGF but some of them are still refusing
to participate. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army is one of the stronger ceasefire groups in
Burma.
The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) is a breakaway group of Buddhist former
soldiers and officers of the Karen Nation Union KNU). It is one of the largest insurgent armies in
Burma (Myanmar). Since 1994, shortly after their breakaway, the DKBA have enjoyed a
ceasefire with the Myanmar army.
Nowadays, two decades later, the Burmese military junta is set to hold new elections according
to deeply flawed election laws and an unacceptable constitution that has rendered the NLD
illegal due to the party’s principled decision to not take part in the military selection and
legitimize the junta’s control.
7 November 2010;
Regime officials in Burma threatened citizens into voting for the main junta-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Casted votes were further manipulated by Burmese
officials.
Major general Saw Lah Pwe, commander of the breakaway (DKBA) brigade now locked in
conflict with the Burmese Army in the Burmese border town of Myawaddy, on the situation
saying, “We are still fighting with Burmese soldiers. The election is not free or fair and voters do
not support it. The military regime forced people to vote for the government proxy party and
they will probably win the election. They are not only oppressing ethnic minorities but also
keeping the people’s leader Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. As an army of the
people, we have to protect the dignity and sovereignty of people.”
8 November 2010:
Fighting between a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and
Burmese junta troops broke out in Myawaddy, a town on the Burmese side of the Thai-Burma
border. Myawaddy is one of the largest economic areas along the border. The Soldiers of the

2. DKBA confronted the Burmese Unite at Three Pagoda Pass, another Burmese border town
located northwest of Bangkok. Deputy Commander of the Burmese army was arrested by the
DKBA.
Thai army troops patrolled the Thai-Burma border after fighting broke out between the Burmese
Army and a splinter group of the junta-aligned DKBA. A Thai army official reports that the
gunshots were heard in border areas.
Burmese heavy weaponry landed in Thai territory while fighting occurred in the Burmese border
towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagoda Pass. The DKBA is still controlling the Burmese cities
but the Burmese are fighting to regain control. The Burmese army is also threatening to use air
strikes and people are very afraid.
As result of the fighting between DKBA and the Burmese regime, residents from Myawaddy and
Three Pagoda Pass crossed the border into Thailand to escape. The estimated 30,000 refugees
from Myawaddy recently arrived in Mae Sot, Tak province of Thaialnd. An additional 10,000
refugees from Three Pagoda Pass are now living in Sangkhlaburi, Kanchanabir Province in
Thailand. Many of the newly arrived civil war victims are women and children. FED has teams
on both sides of the border and has begun facilitating emergency responses and quick
assignments. The new arrivals are in great need the following items:
1) Temporary shelters ( tents, blankets, mats)
2) Food ( nutrition for women and children)
3) Clothes (especially, warm clothes as the border is very cool now)
4) Medical care
Report By:
Htoo Chit
Executive Director
Foundation for Education and development

3. Photo by FED’s team: