Myanmar rebel group withdraws troops from key town on Thai border
Reuters A Myanmar rebel group has withdrawn its troops from a town along the Thai border following a counter-offensive by soldiers of the ruling junta from whom the resistance fighters had wrested the key trading post this month, an official said on Wednesday. The Karen National Union (KNU) made a “temporary retreat” from the town […]
Rebels raise flag at seized Myanmar base, commander confident of retaining control
Myawaddy, Myanmar Reuters Myanmar resistance fighters on Monday burned the flag used by the military government and raised their own banner at a newly captured army base, as a senior rebel commander vowed they would hold the strategic area near the Thai border. The celebrations by fighters linked to the armed ethnic Karen National Union […]
Fight back or flee? Myanmar draft forces hard choices on youth
Reuters Weeks after Myanmar’s military government announced a nationwide draft, two young women from far-flung parts of the South-East Asian country headed to the jungles to take up arms against the junta. For two men in their 30s in Myanmar’s two largest cities, the threat of conscription after the February call-up prompted them to upend […]
Thailand sends refugees back to Myanmar as clashes continue
Mae Sot, Thailand Reuters Thailand has sent over 600 Myanmar refugees who fled fighting between the military and ethnic rebels back across the border, according to a senior Thai official who said on Sunday clashes were continuing. Some of the refugees who reached north-west Thailand’s Tak province told Reuters before they went back over the […]
Myanmar’s war displaces new generation on remote river frontier
Mae Sam Laep, ThailandReuters Myanmar’s coup has brought war back to a remote South-East Asian frontier after 25 years, sending a new generation of villagers in both Myanmar and Thailand running for their lives from bullets and bombs. Ethnic Karen insurgents and the Myanmar army have engaged in heavy clashes near the Thai border in […]
Myanmar insurgents warn of growing conflict as neighbours press junta
Reuters One of Myanmar’s main ethnic minority rebel groups warned of a growing threat of major conflict on Tuesday and called for international intervention against a military crackdown on opponents of last month’s coup. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on […]
Myanmar law aims to settle land claims, but could cause conflict
Thomson Reuters Foundation Millions of people risk being forced off their land in Myanmar due to a recently-amended law, which campaigners and analysts warned could also undermine peace negotiations between the government and ethnic armed groups. The 2012 Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Management Law aims to clarify land claims and reduce landlessness. It covers […]