Karen National Liberation Army
The Karen National Liberation Army , KNLA for short , is the armed arm of the Karen National Union , KNU for short, a political group in Myanmar that is striving for an independent Karen state.
history
At the time of the independence (1948) of Myanmar, the former Burma, from Great Britain, tensions existed between the Burmese majority and the Karen minority. The tensions were a result of World War II . The majority of the Burmese fought against the British colonial government and supported the Japanese, e. B. through the BIA (Burma Independence Army), which actively supported the Japanese, while the minorities, including the Karen, supported the British colonial government. During the colonial era, the minorities in Burma, including the Karen, provided the majority of the local defense forces under the command of the colonial government. One example are the battalions of the Karen Rifles , who fought on the side of the Allies against the Japanese. After the establishment of Myanmar and the KNU, some Karen-dominated military units defected to the KNU, e. B. the UMP ( Union Military Police ). Despite the fact that the Karen took action on the government's side against communist rebels, Karen leaders were arrested by the Union government in December 1948. Top positions in the military that Karen previously held have been filled by ethnic Burmese. On January 30, 1948, the KNDO ( Karen Nation Defense Organization ) was banned by the government, and on January 31, its headquarters in Insein, a city near the capital Rangoon, was occupied. At the same time, the new government's militias took action against minority settlements. There were massacres in Karen-dominated settlements. This action by ethnic Burmese militias sparked an uprising in Karen-dominated areas in the east of the country. The KNLA began to fight communist rebels as well as the troops of the Union government and their supporters.
For many years the KNU and KNLA ruled the border areas between Thailand and Myanmar. This enabled them to generate large revenues from customs duties on border traffic. But since the beginning of the 1990s, the KNLA has been increasingly pushed back from its territories by the Myanmar government. To make matters worse, in 1994 a group of Buddhist Karen split off from the primarily Christian-run KNU. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army was formed, which reached a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar government, the State Council for Peace and Development (SPDC). As a result of this split off, the KNU lost its important Manerplaw headquarters on the Saluen River. Due to the knowledge of the defensive positions and the location of the minefields, the Myanmar troops were able to conquer Manerplaw. Today the KNLA no longer has its own territory and is limited to guerrilla methods.
In 2004 an informal ceasefire was concluded between the KNLA and the Myanmar military government. However, the latter never took the armistice seriously. On the contrary, since the armistice it has tried to strengthen its position in the Karen area by building roads and bases. The oral truce was agreed by Bo Mya on a trip to the then Myanmar capital, Rangoon . Since October 2006, the KNLA no longer feels bound by this, as it has been broken too often by the central government. The 7th KNLA Brigade is currently trying to negotiate its own separate armistice with the Myanmar government.
The Karen conflict is the longest-running civil war today. It is led by the Myanmar military, called Tatmadaw , with indescribable severity. In addition to the refugees in Thailand, there are hundreds of thousands of internal refugees in Myanmar, also called IDPs . Although the KNLA lost almost all of its bases within its territory, it is still fighting the central government to this day.
There are the most contradicting statements about the strength of the KNLA. Some sources speak of 20,000 armed supporters, others of 4,000 to 5,000 men. At the 57th "Karen Revolution Day" there was even talk of 50,000 men, who could not be armed by far.
The KNLA is divided into seven brigades:
| brigade | KNU / KNLA | Myanmar government |
| 1st brigade | Du Tha Htu District | Thaton District |
| 2nd brigade | Tha Ow district | Toungoo District |
| 3rd brigade | Kler Lwee Htuu District | Nyaunglebin District |
| 4th brigade | Mergui Tavoy District | Tavoy district |
| 5th Brigade | MuThraw district | Papun District |
| 6th Brigade | Duplaya district | Kya In Seik Kyi District |
| 7th Brigade | Pa-An District | Pa-An District |
Note: The 4th Brigade does not operate in Kayin State , but in northern Mon State . On January 30, 2007, the 7th Brigade split into two groups. Rebels from the 7th Brigade under Brigadier General Htain Maung founded the KNLA / Peace Council. He had conducted peace negotiations with the SPDC without the consent of the KNU leadership.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ History of the Karens and KNU. (No longer available online.) In: karen.org. June 26, 1998, archived from the original on February 16, 2012 ; Retrieved January 20, 2016 (English, apparently subjective representation from the Karen’s point of view): “But even while all this was happening, the ungrateful Burmese Government was hastily organizing a strong force of levies to make an all-out effort to smash the Karens . By December 1948, they arrested the Karen leaders in many parts of the country. "
- ^ Karen National Union split [1]